The Equitable Doctrine of Assignor Estoppel Does Not Prevent PTAB from Instituting an IPR
By Carl Kukkonen Last month, the Federal Circuit in Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. v. Athena Automation Ltd., Nos. 2015-1726, 2015-1727 (Fed. Cir. Sep. 23, 2016) addressed the issue of whether assignor estoppel may bar a party from filing a petition for inter...
Director Lee Comments on the Fifth Anniversary of the America Invents Act
By Matt Johnson (profile) On September 21st, Director Michelle Lee made comments regarding the America Invents Act five years on at an anniversary event at the Rayburn Building. Regarding PTAB trials, Director Lee stated: The AIA also created a new Patent Trial and...
PTAB Publishes August 2016 Trial Statistics – 34% of Final Written Decisions in Favor of Patent Owner
By Matt Johnson (profile) The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has released AIA trial filing and disposition numbers for August 2016. Filings remained near the 150 mark, with 143 total trials being requested in August, 136 of those being requests for Inter Partes Review....
The PTAB Refuses to Consider New Real Party in Interest Argument Raised on Remand
The PTAB is beginning to address a small stream of cases reversed and remanded by the Federal Circuit, and the scope of what the PTAB will consider on remand is of interest. In Corning Optical Communications RF, LLC v. PPC Broadband, Inc., IPR2013-00340, Paper 85...
USPTO Proposes Fee Increase for PTAB Trials
On September 30, 2016, the USPTO issued a press release seeking comments on proposed patent fee adjustments. The announcement notes that the proposed increases include several PTAB AIA trial fees, "aimed at better aligning these fees with the USPTO's costs and aiding...