By Matt Johnson

On July 6th and 7th, the USPTO made good on its promise to not wait for a confirmed director to begin Arthrex Director reviews, issuing its first denials of review requests.  The full press release is below:

 

USPTO issues first Director review decisions

On June 29, as a result of the recent Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Arthrex, Inc., the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented an interim procedure whereby review of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final written decision in an inter partes, post-grant, or covered business method review may be initiated sua sponte by the Director or requested by a party to a PTAB proceeding.

The USPTO received its first two requests for Director review on July 6 and July 7. Today, Drew Hirshfeld, performing the functions and duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, has issued decisions in those cases (IPR2020-00081 and IPR2020-00320). The order in each case denies the request for Director review and provides that “the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s Final Written Decision in this case is the final decision of the agency.”

Details on the interim Director review process are provided on the USPTO Arthrex information page, Arthrex Q&As, and the Arthrex Boardside Chat event page of the USPTO website.

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Matt Johnson is one of the Firm's primary contacts on practice before the PTAB. Currently co-chairing the Firm's PTAB subpractice and involved in proceedings at the Board since the first day of their availability in September 2012, Matt regularly represents clients as both petitioners and patent owners at the Board. He further works as an advocate for clients in appeals from Board proceedings at the Federal Circuit.