High Court to Tackle Whether Government Can Petition PTAB
By: Emily Tait UPDATE: Oral Argument was held in this case in February 2019. On October 26, 2018, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Return Mail, Inc. v. United States Postal Service, et al. (17-1594) to address whether the U.S. government is a “person” who may...
New PTAB Pilot Program for Claim Amendments
By Cary Miller, Ph.D. The USPTO has proposed a pilot program intended to make it easier to amend claims before the PTAB. (See the USPTO’s Request for Comments on Motion to Amend Practice and Procedures in Trial Proceedings under the America Invents Act before the...
Revised Standard Operating Procedure 2 and the New Path to PTAB Precedent
By Doug Pearson Prior to the USPTO’s issuance of revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 2 on September 20, 2018 (available here), designation of Board decisions as Precedential or Informative required, among other things, nomination of a decision to the Chief...
USPTO’s Revised SOP Sheds Light on Selection of PTAB Panels
By Josh Nightingale and Matt Johnson The USPTO has revised its standard operating procedure (SOP) governing the assignment of judges to panels in Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) cases. The SOP, available here, provides guidance to Board administrative personnel...
Post-Priority Document Usable As Evidence of POSITA Motivation
By: Jennifer J. Chheda, Ph.D and John D. Kinton The Federal Circuit recently affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“PTAB”) final written decisions finding the claims of Yeda Research and Development Co., Ltd.’s (“Yeda”) U.S. Patent Nos. 8,232,250, 8,399,413,...