Patent Office Issues Proposed Rule For Rarely Successful Director Review Requests

The rulemaking is supposed to formalize the Patent Trial and Appeal Board process, which has been in an interim status since a Supreme Court decision, giving manufacturers more ability to request oversight of the decisions. 

outside of US Patent and Trademark Office building
The US PTO issued a rule on how to request Director Reviews of PTAB proceedings on 15 April. • Source: Shutterstock

A new proposed rule describes when and how parties can request Director Reviews of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings, as well as when the PTO Director may initiate a review, but still highlights the rareness of success using the process.

PTO has received 328 complaint requests for Director Review under an interim process as of 1 April. Of the 316...

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