New Post-Grant Patent Proceedings Exceeding Expectations

September 16 marks the second anniversary of the America Invents Act (AIA), which brought about the most significant changes in US patent laws in more than 50 years.

One very significant change was the introduction of three new post-grant patent proceedings that permit third parties to challenge the validity of a patent in the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The new proceedings are intended to be focused, streamlined trials with limited discovery that allow both patentees and their competitors to obtain greater certainty regarding their respective rights at relatively low cost in less time than district court litigation.

Specifically, the AIA created Post Grant Review (PGR), Inter Partes Review (IPR) and Covered Business Method (CBM) Review proceedings, and the PTO began accepting petitions for IPR and CBM one year ago. The response from the business and legal communities has been surprisingly rapid and positive. In the first year alone, companies have filed