Patent Judges Review Fewer Challenges as Agency Priorities Shift

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Law, Trey Powers, director and co-chair of Sterne Kessler’s PTAB Trials practice, spoke on the changes out of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with regards to “settled expectations.”

USPTO Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart created a new policy to route reviews of patent validity challenges through the director before they are considered on the merits. Regarding the March memo that instituted the interim discretionary denial process and provided an open-ended slate of factors, Powers commented, “Some, such as the patent owner’s “settled expectations” in avoiding challenges to their longstanding intellectual property, have left attorneys facing uncertainty.”

He continued, “There was sort of a settled expectation about how PTAB proceedings work. That settled expectation has been altered.”