Law360 reached to Finnegan partner Jason Stach to discuss the attention that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) received in 2018, and how that attention has led to changes in PTAB practice.
Changes at the PTAB in 2018 included the Supreme Court upholding American Invents Act reviews against a constitutional challenge, no longer allowing the PTAB to pick and choose which claims it wants to examine in review, and a plan to change how patent amendments are handled. Jason said, "It’s almost been unprecedented in terms of the attention that the PTAB has received." Regarding motions to amend he said, "I think a lot of the reason that motions to amend have been denied in the past has been because patent owners just aren’t willing in a lot of cases to present truly meaningful amendments, and that’s not really going to change under the new procedures."
