U.S. Patent And Trademark Office Issues Final Rules For Contested Patent Cases

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") has published the final rules for handling contested patent cases, including post-grant review of patents based on prior art. The PTO has also published final rules in a number of other areas relative to the America Invents Act ("AIA"), which we will summarize at a later date.

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") replaces the existing Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and has the final duties:

1. review adverse decisions of examiners upon an application for patent;
2. review appeals of reexaminations;
3. conduct derivation proceedings; and
4. conduct inter partes and post-grant reviews. AIA § 7.