Director Takes On All Institution Duties

On October 17, Director Squires announced that he will assume responsibility for all post‑grant trial institution decisions. When the Director determines that a petition warrants institution, the matter will be assigned to a three‑judge APJ panel to conduct the trial over the following year.

In an open letter accompanying a Notice of updated procedures, Director Squires identified several concerns with the prior panel‑based institution model. First, he highlighted the perception of self‑incentivization: although the Board has performed admirably, performance metrics and workload structures created the appearance that institution decisions could influence docket size, credit, and resource allocation—raising concerns that the Board might be "filling its own docket." Even if unfounded, that perception undermines public confidence in the integrity of the Office's adjudicatory functions for IPRs. Second, he noted that the bifurcated process for