We’ve been updating our stats pretty frequently but haven’t had a recent post about what—if anything—has changed in affirmance rates as more data has been compiled. So with basically 2½ years of data, I thought we could look...more
Last year, the continued global COVID-19 pandemic forced American courts to largely continue the procedures set in place in 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was no exception. It briefly returned to live...more
[co-author: Jamie Dohopolski] Last year, the continued global COVID-19 pandemic forced American courts to largely continue the procedures set in place in 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was no...more
The Federal Circuit had a busy week, issuing 18 opinions—8 of them precedential. One of those cases put a new spin on two PTAB-related issues we’ve covered extensively on this blog: Arthrex (which held PTAB judges were...more
It has been a little while since we took a look at what—from a statistics standpoint—went down at recent oral arguments. Since the Federal Circuit went remote, there was an initial wave of a high percentage of appeals that...more
It was a busy week for the Federal Circuit, with a total of 18 new opinions, including a precedential opinion on enablement in the context of § 103 obviousness references. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and our...more
Did you remember to send your favorite examiner a Valentine’s Day card? Okay, so maybe that’s not the typical applicant/examiner relationship. But this week we do look at some potential consequences from the back and forth...more
Last week I took a look at affirmance rates—both in general and excluding Rule 36s (see It’s Two Weeks After Your Argument, And You’ve Heard Nothing. What Does That Mean). This week I decided to see what things have been...more
Since we started this blog, we have taken a look at win-loss percentages a number of times. Now that we recently updated our statistics, we took another look. This time we thought we’d add a twist to our calculations by...more
Since yesterday was the Super Bowl, we assume that all of our readers spent today as we did, thinking about the Federal Circuit's recent decision in M&K Holdings about a video compression patent. If not, we've got you...more
Out with the old, and in with the new: it’s Court week for the short February month, so we thought we’d revisit what happened at oral arguments last month and what’s happening now....more
These charts and graphs appear in the firm's Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2020 Decisions report... Appeals from the USPTO dipped in FY20, reaching their lowest level since FY15. After four...more
Now that the new year has started, we’re seeing an uptick in precedential opinions. This week we decided to turn back to patent appeals, taking a look at IPRs and Article III—always a fun topic. Below we provide our usual...more
Last week, Seth Lloyd and I noticed that there had been two more Rule 36s in appeals without oral argument from the Federal Circuit’s November sitting. And then yesterday, Bloomberg’s Perry Cooper tweeted that two more...more
Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we’ve all hopefully had a chance to ponder what we’re thankful for (including that a wild 2020 is about to close). Next week marks the start of the Federal Circuit’s last oral argument...more
Last week, the Federal Circuit was relatively busy, issuing five precedential opinions and three other written decisions. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and our case of the week—our highly subjective selection...more
Before October is out the door, we wanted to take a moment to review the Federal Circuit’s sitting earlier this month. Looking at statistics from the October sitting, the same two things we noticed last month stood out to...more
When patent owners appeal PTAB decisions to the Federal Circuit, 67% of subsequent opinions are one-line Federal Circuit Rule 36 (“Rule 36”) summary affirmance orders, but when petitioners appeal, that number is a mere 18%. ...more
Rule 36 is a single sentence affirmance. Yet to explain the impact of a Rule 36 decision on later filed cases, the Court needed to issue a 7-page precedential decision. In Virnetx v Apple the Court held Rule 36 creates...more
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
Last week, the Federal Circuit granted, in part, a panel rehearing request and remanded an IPR to the PTAB in view of SAS to address claims that were not initially instituted by the Board. Broad Ocean Tech., LLC v. Nidec...more
Nothing hurts worse than a Rule 36 (single page, single sentence affirmance of the decision below) after years of work and millions of dollars spent on a case. Rule 36 makes rehearing, en banc review, and/or cert petitions a...more
The PTAB Strategies and Insights Newsletter is designed to be a valuable resource for all stakeholders in the global patent arena throughout the patent life cycle. To that end, articles will provide perspectives from both...more
Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) has the authority to use the broadest reasonable interpretation claim...more