USPTO Director Institution Decisions: Back To The Future?
By John Marlott - USPTO Director Squires recently published an open letter announcing that he was “Bringing the USPTO Back to the Future” by assuming responsibility for all IPR and PGR institution decisions. Why the reference to the 1980s movie recently re-released...
PRECEDENTIAL: PTAB Clarifies Real Party in Interest Analysis
By Carl Kukkonen and Matt Johnson - The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has designated as precedential a decision that squarely reaffirms the statutory requirement to identify all real parties in interest (RPI) in AIA petitions. By elevating Corning Optical...
Collateral Estoppel May Not Apply When Claim Interpretation Standards Differ
By Thane Bonnett* and Matt Johnson - In its recent decision in RØDE Microphones, LLC et. al. vs. Zaxcom, Inc., the PTAB declined to apply collateral estoppel based on prior post-grant proceedings because the prior proceedings had applied a different standard of...
Proposed Rulemaking Aims to Change Access to IPR Proceedings
By Thane Bonnett,* Daniel Sloan, and Matt Johnson - On October 17, 2025, the USPTO issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (“Notice”) regarding the rules of practice for inter partes review before the PTAB. The proposed rules do not apply to post grant review...
Director Terminates Proceeding Based on Inconsistent Testimony
By David Linden, Dave Maiorana, Thane Bonnett,* and Pranita Dhungana - On October 1, 2025, USPTO Director John Squires issued his first Director Review decision, terminating in whole IPR2024-00465 (“IPR465”) based on unreliable and inconsistent expert testimony. In...