United States Patent and Trademark Office May 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'' or ``Office'') proposes changes to the rules of practice for instituting review on all challenged claims or none in inter partes review (``IPR''), post-grant review (``PGR''), and the transitional program for covered business method patents (``CBM'') proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (``PTAB'' or ``Board'') in accordance with SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu (``SAS''). Consistent with SAS, the Office also proposes changes to the rules of practice for instituting a review on all grounds of unpatentability for the challenged claims that are asserted in a petition. Additionally, the Office proposes changes to the rules to conform to the current standard practice of providing sur-replies to principal briefs and providing that a patent owner response and reply may respond to a decision on institution. The Office further proposes a change to eliminate the presumption that a genuine issue of material fact created by the patent owner's testimonial evidence filed with a preliminary response will be viewed in the light most favorable to the petitioner for purposes of deciding whether to institute a review.