A new rule issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers clarity for patent litigants while leaving the office’s director significant flexibility over how to handle reviews of certain patent rulings, McGuireWoods partner Amanda Wieker and counsel George Davis wrote in the November/December 2024 issue of IP Litigator.
In the article, “Four Key Takeaways From PTAB’s New Director Review Rules,” the authors analyzed a final rule issued by the USPTO on Oct. 1, 2024, which governs reviews by the office’s director of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions in proceedings under the America Invents Act. Wieker served for nearly a decade as administrative patent judge at the PTAB before joining McGuireWoods.
The authors said the new rules are consistent with the interim procedures the director has been operating under since 2021, and director review will likely continue to be used similarly, at least for now.
“However, the newly issued rules provide ample flexibility such that the director may refine and improve Director Review processes, as experience or workload dictates, or such that a future director may alter the processes as they see fit,” the authors wrote.
The analysis was originally published as an Oct. 9, 2024, McGuireWoods legal alert.