The final year of Director Vidal’s tenure as the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was a busy year for rulemaking at the Office. Since late 2023, five Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) directly related to...more
On November 12, USPTO Director Kathi Vidal announced in a post on LinkedIn and a letter to friends and colleagues that she would be stepping down the second week in December. Deputy Director Derrick Brent will take over until...more
Patent and Trademark Public Advisory Committees, 89 FR 44634 (May 21, 2024) (“seeking nominations for up to three members of its Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) to advise the Director of the USPTO on patent policy,...more
The NPRM proposals align with interim guidance on requesting director review for key AIA trial decisions. Following the Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew ruling, director review by the USPTO Director remains crucial for addressing...more
Every month, Erise’s patent attorneys review the latest inter partes review cases and news to bring you the stories that you should know about: PTAB issues initial decisions on Lululemon-Nike IPRs - Lululemon, whose...more
The NPRM introduces a significant procedural change by creating a separate briefing process for discretionary denials in post-grant trials, streamlining the current practice where petitioners must reserve space for addressing...more
On April 30, the USPTO announced a Request for Comments (RFC) seeking public feedback on how AI could affect USPTO evaluations on patentability, including what qualifies as prior art and the assessment of the level of...more
One year ago, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that set forth several ideas related to America Invents Act (AIA) proceedings before the Patent Trial...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on April 19, 2024 aimed at codifying existing Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) practices while further improving “fairness,...more
On April 16, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding Director Review of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions....more
The availability of post-grant proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has changed the face of patent litigation. This periodic digest is designed to keep you up-to-date by highlighting interesting PTAB,...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to revise its rules on amendment practice under the America Invents Act (AIA). Specifically, the USPTO is proposing...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) today proposing to update its rules governing motions to amend before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). ...more
The USPTO issued an advance notice of proposed rules (“ANPRM”) on April 21, 2023 and is requesting comments and feedback from practitioners on proposed, proposed changes at the PTAB. The full ANPRM document is available on...more
USPTO Leadership - ..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. The Biden Administration has not made an announcement as to who will be nominated to become the next Director....more
On May 27, 2020, the USPTO announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would affect IPR, PGR and CBM proceedings. Most significantly, the proposed rules would eliminate the presumption in favor of petitioners for material...more
The USPTO published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on May 9, 2018 seeking to change the claim construction standard for PTAB trials from the current broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) to the claim construction standard...more
Today, the PTO announced proposed rulemaking to change the claim construction standard applied by the PTAB in IPR, PGR, and CBM proceedings. In particular, the PTO proposes replacing the broadest reasonable interpretation...more