Which Of The Proposed PTAB Reforms Will Stick?

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent advance notice of proposed rulemaking for potential reforms to the rules and guidelines for America Invents Act trials was not short on ideas for potential modifications to the way in which the PTAB conducts AIA trials.¹

The notice's extensive list of proposals, now open to comment by USPTO stakeholders, was described by some members of the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet — at a recent oversight hearing on April 27 — as crossing over into the purview of Congress.

Specifically, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., told USPTO Director Kathi Vidal that Congress can revisit the statute to consider changes but "the PTO is not a lawmaking body."² Vidal responded by noting that this advanced notice "was a way to give stakeholders a chance to shape the rules."³