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To advance predictability and transparency across the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office, Director Andrei Iancu revised the Patent Trial and
Appeal Board’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the assignment
of its judicial panels and the designation of its decisions. The
revisions are based on the USPTO’s six years of experience with PTAB
proceedings, and the feedback that it received from stakeholders,
practitioners, courts, and legislators.
The SOP revisions
change the procedures for informing parties about panel assignments and
replacements, including the designation of panels with more than three
judges when approved by the Director. The experience and technological
backgrounds of judges will be considered in their assignment to a
panel. A Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) has been created, which will
typically include the Director, the Commissioner for Patents, and the
Chief Judge of the PTAB. Under certain circumstances, POP members may
delegate their authority. The POP may be convened to rehear matters in
pending trials and appeals on issues of exceptional importance. The
revisions explain the standards, procedures, and timing for requesting
POP review in a pending case on rehearing.
Further, the
POP may assist the Director in designating PTAB decisions as
precedential or informative. This is expected to replace the prior
practice of appointing expanded panels with a process that is more
predictable and transparent. Consequentially, concerns about expanded
panels that may influence decisions should be alleviated. It is also
anticipated that the SOP revisions will result in more decisions being
designated as precedential. Parties will be provided with notice when
POP review takes place, as well as the identification of the POP members
who will decide their case.
Source: Brinks Gilson & Lione
Author: Harold Johnson & Stephen Leahu
Editor: Dora