Over a year ago, I took a look at a study of the success rate for inter partes reviews (IPRs) of pharmaceutical patents. That study showed that drug and biologic patents are significantly more likely to be upheld at the PTAB than the average patent. Recently, there’s been a wave of additional studies looking at…
Tag Archive for America Invents Act
CAFC Determines No Requirement To Reopen Non-Instituted Claims Post-SAS
by Josh Landau •
While the Supreme Court continues to consider WesternGeco, that’s not the only oil services patent case to read up on.1 A little over a month ago, the Supreme Court’s SAS opinion determined that the PTAB can’t pick and choose which claims to consider in an inter partes review (IPR). Today, the Federal Circuit released its…
Chabot, Johnson Introduce House Fee-Setting Reauthorization Bill
by Josh Landau •
Back in March, Senator Coons and Senator Hatch introduced a bill to renew the USPTO’s authorization to set its own fees, the “BIG Data for IP” Act (S. 2601). This week, Reps. Chabot (OH) and Johnson (GA) introduced a House companion bill (H.R. 5887). As I wrote back in March, fee-setting authority is critical…
A Little More Than Forty Percent: Outcomes At The PTAB, District Court, and the EPO
by Josh Landau •
In the run-up to Oil States, a frequent criticism by opponents of patent reform was that the PTAB was “unfair” and that it invalidated patents at a rate far higher than the district courts would if they had the chance. Unfortunately this is contradicted by the actual facts, which is something we’ve seen before…
PTAB Will Continue To Double-Check Its Work—All Of It
by Josh Landau •
Today, the Supreme Court issued two opinions in cases focused on the inter partes review (IPR) procedure. First, in Oil States v. Greene’s Energy Group, the Court upheld the constitutionality of IPR by a 7-2 vote. Second, in a more narrowly divided 5-4 decision in SAS v. Matal, the Court decided that the PTAB’s practice…
The Patent Examination Process Shouldn’t Be An Oversight
by Josh Landau •
Director Iancu will be appearing for his first oversight hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, April 18. This follows on his recent speech at the Chamber of Commerce, at which he emphasized two areas of focus: Patent rights should be more predictable and the system should be more stable. When discussing the patent system, dialogue should be more…
Like A Horror Movie Villain, The STRONGER Patents Act Returns
by Josh Landau •
Since the STRONGER Patents Act was introduced last year, it’s basically been a dead topic. Maybe that’s because the bill would gut the extremely successful inter partes review procedure and overturn more than a decade of Supreme Court precedent, crippling the ability of small and medium enterprises to develop products without fear. It would even make…
“The Same Or Substantially The Same Prior Art Or Arguments”
by Josh Landau •
Director Andrei Iancu has been making the rounds since his confirmation. In a recent interview, he suggested that “[t]here is, for sure, a perception problem in the IP community with the PTAB” and that “when you have a perception problem you have a real problem in the sense that if the IP community loses faith…
Innovation Is Alive And Well—Patenting Activity
by Josh Landau •
After examining the evidence for U.S. innovation as shown by startups and venture capital, and by R&D spending, I want to look at patenting activity—new patent applications and new patent grants. Particularly given accusations that the U.S. patent system has fallen behind other systems worldwide—accusations based on extremely questionable analysis—it’s worth looking at what patent…
A Big Day For The PTO—And A Good Day
by Josh Landau •
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two separate cases regarding inter partes review (IPR)—Oil States v. Greene’s Energy and SAS Institute v. Matal. In both Oil States and SAS, the Court appears to be sympathetic to the Patent Office’s arguments—and that’s good for everyone. Oil States The Oil States case focuses on whether…