BPAI Projects Increased Delays In The Appeal Process

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released the statistics of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. Of the 6,800 appeals disposed of in FY2009, the examiner's rejection was wholly affirmed in slightly more than 50% of cases, affirmed-in-part in 14% of cases, and wholly reversed in 25% of cases. Additionally, more than 15,300 appeals were filed during FY2009, representing an increase of more than 140% over those filed in FY2008. Although the BPAI disposed of almost 40% more cases than in FY2008, the astonishing increase in appeals filed in FY2009 bloated the backlog of cases pending before the BPAI to almost 12,500, with an average pendency of 8 months. The BPAI's Chief Administrative Patent Judge recently warned that, despite the additional 35 judges hired since 2007, the BPAI is ill-equipped to deal with the growing number of appeals. Without additional personnel and resources,