

Director Provides Reminders For Obviousness Analysis
By Scott Findley* and Sarah Geers - On July 9, 2024, Director Vidal reversed and remanded a denial of institution of inter partes review (IPR) relating to three Spin Master patents. See Prime Time Toys LLC v. Spin Master, Inc., IPR Nos. 2023-01339, 2023-01348,...

PTAB Updates its SOP for Assigning Judges to Panels
By Carl Kukkonen - The PTAB recently updated its Standard Operating Procedure 1 (SOP), which describes the process and guidelines for assigning judges to panels in all jurisdictions of the Board. This blog post highlights some of the key features of the revised SOP...

District Court Charts Middle Ground In Prosecution Bar
By Nick Marasco,* Matt Modderman, Matt Johnson - The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware recently issued a protective order settling a dispute over the scope of a proposed prosecution bar. Aerin Medical Inc. v. Neurent Medical Inc., No. 23-756, Dkt. Nos....

PTAB Nixes IPR Revival
By Ariana Tsanas*, Matt Johnson, and Daniel Sloan - On May 6th, 2024, the PTAB declined Ubiquiti Inc.’s (“Petitioner’s”) request to institute inter partes review. Ubiquiti Inc. v. XR Communications LLC D/B/A Vivato Tech., IPR2024-00148, Paper 12 (May 6, 2024). The...

PTAB Statistics Through Seven Months of FY2024
By Tom Ritchie - The institution rate for post-grant petitions in FY 2024 through the end of April 2024 (the period from Oct. 1, 2023 through April 30, 2024) stands at 66% (427 instituted, 230 denied). This rate remains flat compared to the previous two fiscal years...