The Federal Circuit's January 8th ruling in Wi-Fi One v. Broadcom held that PTAB decisions finding that an inter partes review petition is timely can be appealed. Previously, decisions prohibited appeals of such findings, but now patent owners will be given the opportunity to appeal PTAB decisions that rejected arguments that a petition challenging their patent was time-barred. The Federal Circuit's decision may also open the door for appeals of other issues in American Invents Act (AIA) AIA proceedings. Law360 contacted Finnegan attorney Joshua Goldberg for his thoughts on the decision.
Josh said, "If the court had gone the other way, it would have strongly signaled that virtually nothing is appealable. This decision telegraphs that a number of other issues are going to be appealable." He said that permitting appeals could help clarify conflicting issues around the timeliness of petitions.
