PTAB Update on Inter Partes Review -

On August 19, 2015, the Director of the USPTO released a blog post reporting on the state of post-grant review proceedings created by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 and announcing a set of potential changes to those proceedings go-ing forward. Those involved in or considering inter partes review proceedings should take note of these significant changes that are now on the horizon at the PTAB.

Inter Partes Review: By the Numbers -

The Director’s blog post confirms that, since be-coming available in 2012, post-grant review proceedings – particularly inter partes reviews – have become very popular among those seeking to challenge the validity of a patent. The PTAB re-ports that it has received a total of 3,655 post-grant review petitions, the vast majority of which (90%) are petitions for inter partes review.1 The Director noted that this “reflect[s] around three times more than what we initially anticipated.” Thus far, the PTAB has kept pace with the filings, maintaining a perfect record of issuing timely final decisions with-in the mandated period of one year from institution.