PTAB Year in Review – Strategic Considerations for Post-Grant Challenges at the USPTO Under the New Landscape

Acting Director Stewart and new Director Squires have changed the landscape of post-grant practice at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Several new rules and procedures packages and memos have been circulated since March 2025 that have dramatically affected post-grant strategy by imposing new gates to institution for inter partes and post-grant reviews alongside leadership and procedural changes at the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU). These changes are directed at curtailing the number of Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenges that have resulted in a dramatic decrease in both the number of filings and the success of those filings, while at the same time encouraging an increase in the number of filings at the CRU for reexam­ination proceedings.

We have captured the substance of these changes in two articles: Does Your Office Post-Grant Strategy Account for the Rise of Serial Challenges Flowing From the PTAB to the CRU? and Part II: Does Your Patent Office Post-Grant Strategy Account for the Rise of Serial Challenges Flowing From the PTAB to the CRU?

These articles provide an overview of the changes and practical strategy decisions that need to be made by patent owners and challengers to optimally navigate the new rules and procedures in place today.

Finally, we captured the statistical view of these changes in a recent article, Reexamination and Central Reexam­ination Unit — By the Numbers 2025 (Including Reflec­tions on Related PTAB and District Court Proceedings), that shows year-over-year and month-over-month trends of filings and success for all post-grant proceedings at the USPTO.

In the end, PTAB challenges are obtainable for challeng­ers for the right patents and sets of circumstances, and petitioners and patent owners alike need to maintain focus on what those gates are for litigation and defense strategy. Additionally, the CRU has embraced being the main department handling a broad spectrum of chal­lenges and has set up a system to quickly assess the substantial new questions and patentability issues in view of the increased workload for the unit.

This article appeared in the 2025 PTAB Year in Review: Analysis & Trends report.