PTAB/USPTO Update - May 2025

USPTO Leadership

• Amy Nelson will serve as Acting Solicitor of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. See Delegation of Authority, 1533 OG 292 (April 8, 2025).
• Nicholas Matich will serve as Acting General Counsel and Senior Legal Advisor.
• Mary Critharis will serve as Acting Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs.
• Sean Mildrew will serve as Acting Chief Financial Officer.

USPTO News

• On April 18, the USPTO celebrated the winners of the National Patent Application Drafting Competition, the final round of which took place on April 4.
• On April 16, the USPTO announced the creation of the Patent Fraud Detection and Mitigation Working Group “to expand the agency’s efforts to mitigate threats and protect the integrity of the U.S. patent system.”  The USPTO also launched of a new website related to the Working Group.
• On April 15, the USPTO announced that it will reduce the time between Issue Notification and Issue Date from around three weeks to around two weeks, effective May 13, 2025.
• On April 14, the USPTO announced that it would suspend expedited examination of design applications.

General Notices

• Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Patents External Quality Survey, 90 FR 18648 (May 1, 2025) (information collection containing “a survey that the USPTO uses to gauge customer satisfaction with patent examination quality”).
• Suspension of Expedited Examination of Design Applications, 1533 OG 212 (April 29, 2025) (“Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.183, the [USPTO] is sua sponte suspending expedited examination of design applications under 37 CFR 1.155 effective April 17, 2025….”).
• Termination of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, 90 FR 16511 (April 18, 2025) (terminating the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program implemented in 2022).
• Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Patents for Humanity Program and Trademarks for Humanity Program, 90 FR 15454 (April 11, 2025) (information collection related to Patents for Humanity Program and Trademarks for Humanity Program).

Final Rules

• There are no new final rules.

Interim Rules

• There are no new interim rules.

Proposed Rules

• There are no new proposed rules.

Legislation

• On May 1, Sens. Thomas Tillis and Christopher A. Coons and Reps. Kevin Kiley and Scott H. Peters introduced companion bills (S.1546, H.R.3152), which would amend 35 U.S.C. § 101 to eliminate the judicial exceptions to patent-eligible subject matter and would replace them with five exclusions enumerated in the bill.  Those exclusions are: A) a mathematical formula, (B) a process that is substantially economic, financial, business, social, cultural, or artistic, (C) a process that (i) is a mental process performed solely in the human mind; or (ii) occurs in nature wholly independent of, and prior to, any human activity, (D) an unmodified human gene, as that gene exists in the human body, and (E) an unmodified natural material, as that material exists in nature.

PTAB Decisions

• New Precedential PTAB Decisions
  •  There are no new precedential PTAB decisions.

• New Informative PTAB Decisions
  • Hulu, LLC v. Piranha Media Distribution, LLC, IPR2024-01252 & IPR2024-01253, Paper 27 (April 17, 2025) (designated: May 7, 2025) (vacating decision granting institution under § 314(a) when a district court has already found the challenged claims invalid under § 101).

• New Director Review Decisions
  • Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC, d/b/a onsemi v. Greenthread, LLC, IPR2023-01242, IPR2023-01243 & IPR2023-01244
    • Decisions subject to Director review – Paper 86 (February 24, 2025) (Final Written Decision), Paper 83 (February 19, 2025) (same), Paper 84 (February 24, 2025) (same)
    • Order Granting Director Review, Vacating the Final Written Decision, and Remanding to the Board for Further Proceedings – Paper 94 (Stewart April 24, 2025) (finding abuse of discretion “in denying discovery motions” because “Patent Owner raised more than a mere possibility that discovery would yield useful information [regarding privity] given that Petitioner was a supplier of a time-barred party, Intel”).
  • Hulu, LLC v. Piranha Media Distribution, LLC, IPR2024-01252 & IPR2024-01253
    • Decisions subject to Director review – Paper 16 (March 4, 2025) (Decision Granting Institution of Inter Partes Review), Paper 15 (March 4, 2025) (same)
    • Order Granting Director Review, Vacating the Decision Granting Institution, and Denying Institution of Inter Partes Review – Paper 27 (Stewart April 17, 2025) (denying institution where district court had found claims invalid as ineligible subject matter under § 101 and noting “[i]n the event the Federal Circuit reverses the district court’s decision, Petitioner may raise such invalidity arguments in the district court on remand”).