To wrap up 2019 and usher in 2020 for practitioners who handle
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) matters, Foley partners Jeanne
Gills, Steve Maebius, and George Quillin discussed 2019’s
major developments in a webinar on January 23, 2020.
The discussion included:
2019 Trends and Statistics
The number of IPR petitions filed fell in 2019. PGR petitions fell even more so,
albeit from 2018’s all-time high. CBM petitions trickled
almost to a complete stop—the lowest number since the passage
of the America Invents Act—in anticipation of the 2020 sunset
of the CBM pathway. In the last three years, PGRs have almost
doubled as a proportion of all petition types, but this may be due
to a decrease in IPRs and a more significant decrease in CBMs.
Institution rates have also crept steadily downward, perhaps
reflecting the SAS decision’s all-or-nothing
institution requirement.
