Applying Fintiv to a Parallel ITC Investigation
By Sabrina Bellantoni & S. Christian Platt - The Patent Trial and Appeals Board (“PTAB”) recently denied institution of an inter partes review (“IPR”), exercising its discretion under 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) and Apple Inc. v. Fintiv Inc., IPR2020-00019 (PTAB Mar. 20,...
April 2025 Institution Rate Slips Below 45 Percent
By Matt Johnson - The PTAB has published its monthly statistics wrap up for April 2025. As expected, those statistics show a significant decline in the institution rate compared to the first six months of the fiscal year. In those first six months, the overall...
Acting Director Releases First Decisions Under New Bifurcated Process
By Daniel C. Sloan and Matt Johnson - On May 16, 2025, USPTO Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart released the first four discretionary denial decisions under the PTAB’s new process. Under the new process, the parties separately brief discretionary denial issues and...
Institution Denied for Insufficient Publication Evidence
By David Linden, Ernie Olesky, and Dave Maiorana - On October 29, 2024, BabyBjörn AB (“BabyBjörn”) filed two separate petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent No. 11,786,055 (“the ’055 Patent”), which is assigned to The ERGO Baby Carrier, Inc. (“ERGO...
Director Review: PTAB Instructed to Allow Narrowly Tailored Discovery Regarding Time Bar
By Daniel Sloan and Matt Johnson - USPTO Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart recently vacated and remanded three Final Written Decisions from the PTAB. Semiconductor Components Indus. v. Greenthread, LLC, IPR2023-01242, IPR2023-01243, IPR2023-01244, Paper 94...