The USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has released its March 2017 statistics.  The end of March marking the halfway point in the USPTO's fiscal year, the overall totals for fiscal year 2017 (FY 2017) are coming into focus.  A total of 1044 IPR, CBM and PGR petitions have been filed.  If this trend continues in the second half of the year, the total petitions filed in a year will exceed 2000 for the first time.  This trend is supported by a busy March, which saw 190 IPR/CBM/PGR petitions fled.

IPRs dominate the statistics, as IPR filings continue to increase while CBM filings decrease and PGR filings are still low.  The IPR institution rate for FY 2017 is 66%, which is only a slight decrease from the 68% rate for FY 2016 & FY 2015.

The PTAB’s full statistical report can be found at (https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/AIA%20Statistics_March2017.pdf).