The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced that, at the direction of USPTO Director Michelle Lee (shown left), the Office is launching an initiative “to further shape and improve Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) trial proceedings, particularly inter partes review proceedings.” According to the USPTO, the purpose of the initiative is to ensure that post grant proceedings are both effective and as fair as possible.
The timing of the announcement is curious given that Michelle Lee’s days may be numbered as Director of the Office. As first reported on IPWatchdog.com, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has interviewed at least three candidates for the position of Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Phil Johnson, former Vice-President for Intellectual Property Strategy & Policy for Johnson & Johnson; Randall Rader, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and an unidentified patent attorney characterized by one source as a “dark horse” candidate.
This timing has led some to speculate that the PTAB initiative may be more than coincidental. If the PTAB initiative wraps up relatively quickly by DC standards and concludes that little or nothing needs to be done and that PTAB proceedings, including IPR proceedings, are already extremely fair and even-handed, this could put Director Lee’s successor in an awkward political position, especially if her successor has a very different view of the PTAB than Lee.
In any event, according to the USPTO announcement:
This initiative will examine procedures including, but not limited to, procedures relating to multiple petitions, motions to amend, claim construction, and decisions to institute. It will evaluate the input already received from small and large businesses, startups and individual inventors, IP law associations, trade associations, and patent practitioners, and will seek to obtain more feedback regarding potential procedural enhancements.
Coke Morgan Stewart, Senior Advisor to Director Lee, is coordinating this PTAB initiative. Members of the public may submit their ideas regarding PTAB procedural reform to: PTABProceduralReformInitiative@uspto.gov.
Tags: Inter Partes Review, patent, patents IPR, PTAB
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