PTAB Filings Held Steady in Q1 as Arthrex Continues to Cast Doubt on Prior AIA Review Decisions
April 23, 2020
In the first quarter of 2020, 341 petitions for America Invents Act (AIA) review were filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), including 317 petitions for inter partes review (IPR), four petitions for covered business method (CBM) review, and 20 petitions for post-grant review (PGR). Overall, the number of AIA review petitions filed in Q1 was slightly higher than in Q4 2019 (which saw 332 petitions filed), with Q1 2020 coming in just over the number of petitions seen in Q1 2019 (340).
While new filings have started to level out, following a year-over-year decline in 2019, existing proceedings have faced uncertainty as a result of the Federal Circuit’s October 2019 decision in Arthrex, which held that the appointment of PTAB administrative patent judges is unconstitutional. Indeed, an RPX analysis indicates that Arthrex may trigger a rehearing in hundreds of AIA reviews. Those proceedings may remain in flux as a result of the Federal Circuit’s March 23 decision not to revisit Arthrex, despite requests for rehearing from the US government and both parties in that litigation. Further details on that ruling can be found here.
See RPX’s first-quarter review for more information on recent trends affecting the PTAB.
