USPTO Director Kathi Vidal Is Wielding Review Authority to Change Policy on Discretionary Denials

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal's recent rulings are causing patent practitioners to take note of patterns in those decisions that may influence future cases. Particularly, cases involving discretionary denial of institution under
Fintiv in cases involving parallel district court litigation, sua sponte reviews, and serial petitions filed one after the other, as with the General Plastics decision. IAM interviewed Finnegan partner Josh Goldberg for his thoughts on Director Vidal's recent decisions. 

Josh says Vidal’s rulings are helpful because they can give parties more certainty about the PTAB’s actions. "In the past–and it is still available–directors have issued memos providing various types of guidance. This is just providing another channel for that. She may have a greater ability to do it as the fi rst one [under the new rules] than future directors might have," he said. 

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