A Year of Change, Transition and ‘Recalibration’: What Mattered in 2025 for IP Practice

Sterne Kessler Director Richard D. Coller, III commented on the biggest moments in intellectual property over the last year in IPWatchdog’s article “A Year of Change, Transition and ‘Recalibration’: What Mattered in 2025 for IP Practice.”

“Taken together, 2025 was a year of recalibration rather than reinvention—one where how IP rights are managed, challenged, and enforced evolved despite stagnant patent law reform efforts in Congress,” Coller stated.

He continued, “In 2025, U.S. IP practice was reshaped by a flurry of agency guidance and evolving litigation strategy. A recent key moment came when the USPTO reaffirmed that AI systems cannot be named as inventors, clarifying that traditional inventorship standards still apply even when AI plays a meaningful role in R&D. At the PTAB, procedural and discretionary developments continued to influence how post-grant challenges are brought and defended. The early returns have been a significant drop in IPR institution rates, especially for older patents subject to the “settled expectations” doctrine. This has opened the door to increased use of ex parte reexamination by some patent challengers. Meanwhile, patent litigation trends reflected growing sophistication, with increased use of analytics, AI-enabled tools, and portfolio-level strategy by both operating companies and patent assertion entities.”