The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently announced it will now issue orders establishing the filing dates of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) petitions within 14 days of the filings, stating that this will provide greater clarity regarding the deadlines in each case.
The deadlines in PTAB proceedings, such as inter partes review, are based not on when the petition is actually filed, but on the date the board issues a "notice of filing date accorded" after reviewing the petition and confirming it meets all filing requirements. In several recent cases, attorneys indicated that the notice has been issued up to two months after the petition's filing, leading to uncertainty about the timing of subsequent filings and decisions; however, the office announced on Friday that these notices will be issued more quickly, "effective immediately."
Finnegan partner Forrest Jones told Law360 that, "Where this was becoming a problem was the delay between when the petition is actually filed and when the notice of filing date accorded is issued was highly variable. In particular, the delay this year has been quite long.”
If the office starts predictably issuing the notices in two weeks under the new policy, “that just makes it a lot easier for, honestly, both petitioners and patent owners to plan,” he said.
Read “USPTO Standardizes Timeline for Setting PTAB Filing Dates”
