Motion to Amend Pilot Program Extended (Again)
By John Marlott - The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has again extended the Motion to Amend (MTA) Pilot Program at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The MTA Pilot Program provides a patent owner who files a motion to amend in a trial...
PTAB Statistics Through Eleven Months of FY2022
By Matt Johnson – The institution rate for post-grant petitions in FY 2022 through the end of August 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021 through August 31, 2022) stands at 66% (706 instituted, 366 denied) compared to 59% in the previous fiscal year. The Patent Office notes that on a...
Experts and Expert Testimony in PTAB Proceedings
By Stephanie Mishaga and Matt Johnson - In a recent Boardside Chat webinar, a panel made up of PTAB judges and practicing attorneys discussed the use of experts and expert testimony in American Invents Act (AIA) proceedings. The panelists stressed that well-prepared...
Error Apparent? Federal Circuit Tackles Obvious Errors in Prior Art
By Sean Benevento, Mike Lavine, and Matt Johnson - In LG Electronics v. Immervision, the Federal Circuit clarified the standard for evaluating whether a prior art reference includes an obvious typographical error. See 39 F.4th 1364, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2022). Under this...
Lessons Learned: Director Emphasizes Patent Quality in Evaluating General Plastic Factors
By Emily Tait - In the precedential decision Gen. Plastic Indus. Co. v. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, IPR2016-01357, Paper 19 (PTAB Sept. 6, 2017), the PTAB articulated seven non-exclusive factors to be considered before discretionarily denying a subsequent IPR petition...