Rising PTAB Filings Follow Surge in Patent Cases

Jennifer Meyer Chagnon, director in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group, recently spoke to Law360 on the increase in filings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board last year, based on data in a new report from Lex Machina.

As a former PTAB judge, Chagnon stated the numbers aren’t surprising and reflect standard year-to-year variation in filings: “At the very, very beginning of [the] PTAB, the numbers were very high…Back in 2013, when it first started, there was a lot of excitement. It has sort of steadied out.”

In response to what we are seeing with the new bifurcated discretionary denial process, Chagnon said it “highlights the importance of having counsel that’s really experienced in this space and is going to be able to write the strongest petition and can explain why some of these discretionary factors that are being considered now shouldn’t result in denial of any particular petition.”

Chagnon added, “I think we’ll see an increase in the quality of petitions, but not necessarily a decrease in the numbers.”