PTAB Bar Assoc. Program Committee Webinar: Recent Pronouncements from the USPTO: A Seismic Shift in PTAB Practice?

Sterne Kessler’s Melissa Haapala, counsel and former Administrative Patent Judge and Vice Chief of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), was a panelist during the PTAB Bar Association Program Committee’s webinar, “Recent Pronouncements from the USPTO: A Seismic Shift in PTAB Practice?” on Monday, November 10, 2025.

This program discussed the recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (90 Fed. Reg. 48335), and Open Letter and Memorandum to PTAB Judges issued by the USPTO Director.

These two announcements have significant ramifications for PTAB practitioners, patent challengers, patent owners, and PTAB judges. The panelists discussed these changes, the effects they are likely to have on PTAB practice as well as patent litigation and assertion, and ideas for navigating this new landscape.