In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit docketed just over 650 appeals from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). That is the highest number since the Court started to hear post-American Invents Act (AIA) cases in 2014, breaking the previous record from 2016. Cases from the USPTO, for the fourth straight year, remain the largest contributor to the Federal Circuit’s docket. Despite the continued high volume, average appeal pendency for 2019 remains fairly stable at around 15 to 16 months. Notably, appeals taken from federal district courts dropped to their lowest number in the past decade, to around half those taken from the USPTO....