Alex Yap and Jean Nguyen authored an article for Law360 discussing the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) approach to handling multiple inter partes review petitions filed on the same claims of a patent.
“The PTAB has allowed petitioners to file multiple petitions challenging the same patent in a variety of circumstances, such as when a challenged patent involves independent claims with different classes of subject matter or several means-plus-function claims, or when a priority date dispute involves antedated and nonantedated prior art,” the authors wrote. “When faced with these or similar circumstances, petitioners should consider their options carefully in light of the factors above. Just be sure to file all the petitions on the same day to avoid estoppel claims from the patent owner.”
Read the full article.