Challenges to Immunology Patents Lead Increase in Biotechnology Cases at the PTAB in 2017 -

Throughout the history of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, petitions have been dominated by challenges to patents directed to computer, electrical, and mechanical inventions. Although still a small percentage of the total number of IPR petitions (12 percent), there was a sharp uptick in petitions filed against biotechnology patents (that is, patents issued from USPTO Technology Center 1600) in 2017, as reported in WSGR’s 2017 PTAB Year in Review. Petitions filed in Technology Center 1600 increased 40 percent in 2017 over 2016 levels.