With the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trial Practice Guide update released last month, a significant change was made to the substantive filings. In the revised section II.I. (Sur-replies), the following language changes the rules:

“Sur-replies to principal briefs (i.e., to a reply to a patent owner response or to a reply to an opposition to a motion to amend) normally will be authorized by the scheduling order entered at institution.” TPG, p. 14.

The new rule permits sur-replies to principal briefs as a matter of right, newly allowing patent owners to have the last word in the briefing, in the form of a Sur-reply to Petitioner’s Reply.  Previously, patent owners’ only substantive response opportunity after a petitioner’s reply was to file observations on cross-examination testimony.

The change notes that sur-replies may not be accompanied by new evidence (deposition transcripts of the cross-examination are allowed, as they would have been via observations on cross-examination).  The sur-reply also should only be responsive to arguments made in the corresponding reply brief or the corresponding declaration testimony.  Finally, the institution decision can be addressed by the patent owner in its sur-reply, so long as it is responsive to the petitioner’s reply.

Sur-replies that are not to a “principal brief” continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Other new substantive rule changes include a new provision for a pre-hearing conference call among the parties and details about lie testimony and sur-rebuttal scope during oral hearings.  In addition, the new rules provide clarification on word and page counts, guidance on expert testimony, instituting decision considerations (under §§ 314(a), 324(a) and 325(d)), and clarification on the distinction between motions to exclude and motions to strike.

The full text of the Trial Practice Guide Update can be found on the USPTO’s website.

The recent decision in SAS Institute v. Iancu — in combination with the proposed shift from a broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) standard to the Phillips standard for claim construction used in district court — moves trials at the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board toward being the most likely forum for first consideration of claim construction and patent validity, and perhaps a shift toward becoming a truer “alternative” to litigation, as Congress envisioned under the America Invents Act.

In the first five years since PTAB trials went into effect, the result has been an increase in PTAB trials running concurrently with district court litigation pertaining to the same patent. Indeed, since the inception of PTAB trials, a majority of cases have had co-pending litigation.

Continue Reading Changes in PTAB Trial Practice May Lead to Increase in District Court Stays

In a much-anticipated decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held Tuesday in Oil States Energy Services v. Greene’s Energy Group, that inter partes review does not violate Article III or the Seventh Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the seven-justice majority, and Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a concurrence, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Neil Gorsuch penned the dissent, in which he was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, whose dissent was unsurprising for anyone who listened in on the oral arguments in the case.

In writing for the majority, Justice Thomas addressed three key arguments raised by Oil States:

  • Whether patent rights are private property rights
  • Whether history requires that patent validity must be determined by a court of law
  • Whether the fact that an IPR “looks like” adversarial litigation indicates adjudication is improper outside of an Article III court

Public vs. Private Rights

The Court relied heavily on Cuozzo in its decision, characterizing inter partes review as a reconsideration of the government’s decision to grant the public franchise of a patent in response to the first argument, and thus falling squarely within the public-rights doctrine. Slip op. at 6-8.

The Court was not convinced by three cases cited by Oil States discussing patent rights as private property rights, because “Patents convey only a specific form of property right—a public franchise” (Slip op. at 10.), and those cases were decided under the Patent Act of 1870, which did not have a post-issuance review provision. Slip op. at 11.

Patent Act

The Court also cited the language of the Patent Act itself, noting that by its terms patents have the attributes of personal property “[s]ubject to the provisions of this [Patent Act] title.” Slip op. at 11 (emphasis added). Under the Court’s rationale, Congress may set out conditions for patentability, and “inter partes review is one of those conditions.” Slip op. at 14.

English System

In rejecting Oil States’ second argument based on historical English court precedent, the Court held that just “because courts have traditionally adjudicated patent validity in this country, [does not mean that] courts must forever continue to do so,” and noted that the English system, which serves as the backdrop for the Patent Clause of the Constitution, included a process by which a party could petition to revoke a patent. Slip op. at 13-14. As to the third argument, the Court also found that there is no “looks like” test to determine whether an adjudication has improperly occurred outside of an Article III court, such that similarities to litigation in the IPR process are not determinative. Slip op. at 15-16.

Future Challenges

The decision was largely unsurprising as it maintains the status quo, and fortunate in view of the potential impact a contrary decision could have had on the thousands of patents invalidated to date via IPRs. However, critics have focused on the Court’s characterization of patents as a “public franchise” rather than a private property right. The Court did, however, note the narrowness of the case to the facts presented, and left open the door to future challenges to IPRs based on retroactive application, or to patents as property under the Due Process Clause or Takings Clause. Slip op. at 17.

The recent decision in General Plastic Industrial Co. v. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha denying the petitioner’s requests for a rehearing provided a “baseline” of factors to be considered as to the limited circumstances when second — or “follow-on” — petitions are likely to be successful in Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials.

The petitioner in General Plastic filed two inter partes review petitions, each challenging one patent. The PTAB denied institution on the merits. The petitioner then sought rehearing, which was denied. The petitioner filed further petitions several months later with newly discovered art, challenging the same two patents based in part on the new references.

The decision, rendered by an “expanded” panel including Chief Judge David P. Ruschke, is significant both procedurally — because the decision was rendered by an expanded panel — and substantively — because it provided greater clarity to all parties in an area of PTAB trials processes that had previously been somewhat inconsistent, and recently was designated “precedential,” a rare status indicating it is binding on future PTAB decisions unless replaced or undone.

To date, less than half of follow-on petitions have been instituted, showing the PTAB’s reservations about them. However, there was great disparity in the prior PTAB decisions on this topic, including whether all seven factors laid out in NVIDIA v. Samsung Electronics were addressed. The varied outcomes led commentators and practitioners alike to wonder whether initiation of a given follow-on petition was dependent on the particular panel drawn by petitioner.

Thus, the decision to render the decision via an expanded panel and label the case as precedential likely represents a recognition of the inconsistency of the PTAB decisions in follow-on petitions, and stands as a statement that the analysis in the General Plastic decision should be followed by the PTAB on a going-forward basis.

Continue Reading A Rare Binding PTAB Decision: Guidance On Multiple Petitions

The recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision in General Plastic Industrial v. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (PTAB September 6, 2017; Paper 19) has caused many commentators to note that patent owners should be pleased with the decision as favorable to them. Indeed, the PTAB articulated that “multiple, staggered petition filings, such as those here, are an inefficient use of the inter partes review process and the Board’s resources.” However, historically less than 50% of follow-on petitions by the same petitioner have been instituted. Therefore, it’s not clear that the decision in General Plastic will effect much of a change in the already-low institution rate of follow-on petitions. The language used by the expanded panel that “there is no per se rule precluding the filing of follow-on petitions” and that “there may be circumstances where multiple petitions by the same petitioner against the same claims of a patent should be permitted” indicate that the institution of such “follow-on” petitions should be considered exceptional.

For petitioners seeking to file follow-on petitions, however, the General Plastic decision provides guidance as to what may be considered such exceptional circumstances, by providing hints for how to maximize the chances of having a second petition instituted.

Continue Reading PTAB Hints at How Follow-on Petitions Might Succeed

As we mark the fifth anniversary of the effective date of Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials on September 16, we find that the early years of the practice have been a learning experience both for the PTAB and for PTAB practitioners.

The PTAB had some initial growing pains when the new procedures began, with the number of petitions received far exceeding the number expected. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office requested and received much feedback via public comment, instituted rule changes, and has had its procedures and trial outcomes tested in both the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Likewise, PTAB practitioners have had to evolve along with the PTAB changes, as they familiarized themselves with the procedures for this new variety of “specialized agency proceeding” within the USPTO, as it was described in Cuozzo Speed Technologies v. Lee, 579 U.S. ____ (2016). PTAB practitioners have had to adapt to the rule changes and court decisions and learn through their own experiences in PTAB trials and guidance provided by the Administrative Patent Judges presiding over the cases.

Reflecting on the past five years, three key lessons emerge for practitioners, from practice and directly from the APJs presiding over these cases when they have spoken on topic: Follow the rules, including those that are explicit and those that are unspoken, know your audience, and focus on the facts.

Continue Reading Lessons from Five Years of PTAB Trials

Judge Sue L. Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware recently identified a logical fallacy in the “statutory estoppel” jurisprudence with respect to 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(1).

According to the statute, a petitioner of an IPR that results in a final decision will be estopped from asserting invalidity in a civil action based on “any ground that the petitioner raised or reasonably could have raised during that inter partes review.” 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2).

In the recent case of Intellectual Ventures v. Toshiba, Judge Robinson noted that “the Federal Circuit has construed the language quite literally” in the use of the word “during.” The term is spelled out as “any ground that the petitioner raised or reasonable could have raised during that inter partes review” in § 315(e)(1). The judge noted that while extending the logic of non-instituted grounds as not being able to be raised “during” an IPR proceeding to prior art references that were never presented to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at all “confounds the very nature of this parallel administrative proceeding, the court cannot divine a way around the Federal Circuit’s interpretation in Shaw.” Thus, she did not estop Toshiba from presenting the grounds never presented to the PTAB in a pair of orders in December and January, and heavily implied that the Federal Circuit should weigh in to clarify the issue.

The rationale for excluding non-instituted grounds from estoppel in litigation is that the non-instituted grounds were present only in the “preliminary proceeding” (the IPR petition), but did not become part of the “proceeding” (the instituted IPR) — to borrow the terms from Apotex — and “[a]ny claim or issue not included in the authorization for review is not part of the review” (77 Fed. Reg. 48,680, 48,689 (Aug. 14, 2012)). Apotex held that non-instituted grounds were not those that “reasonably could have been raised” because once denied they were prevented from being raised during the trial.

If grounds not included in the authorization for review are not part of the review, one must ask how prior art references never presented to the PTAB at all could qualify as those that a petitioner “reasonably could have raised during [the] inter partes review” under § 315(e)(1)?

One rationale inconsistently interprets “during” as post-institution for application to non-instituted grounds (excluded because not “during” the IPR), but as pre-institution for grounds that were not asserted but “could have been” included in the petition (a pre-institution “preliminary proceeding”). Alternatively, one could follow a different rationale, that the ground “could have been raised” in a hypothetical petition (1) in which the petitioner asserted a ground including the prior art reference(s) never presented to the PTAB, and (2) based on which references the PTAB hypothetically instituted an IPR. Both of these rationales are illogical.

This issue is one to watch for petitioners and patent owners alike. If petitioners are only estopped from raising those grounds that were actually raised, the scope of estoppel is very narrow and more accused infringers will want to file IPRs. However, if “reasonably could have raised” means some broader pool of art, the estoppel could be much broader and IPRs less favorable to petitioners as a result.

During the first three years of implementing the America Invents Act (AIA), Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision-making created a perception that a patent owner’s ability to amend claims during a post-grant proceeding was limited, at best. In 2015, legislative activity began to address this perceived problem with draft amendments to the patent statute.

While specific proposals varied, the concept of one approach was that a patent owner seeking to amend claims during a PTAB trial, could prosecute its proposed amendments like ordinary examination (or reexamination) in parallel with the underlying PTAB trial. This amendment examination process, termed an “off ramp” by some, has raised a number of policy and administrative issues. Continue Reading An Examination “Off-Ramp” For Motions To Amend Still Raises Hopes and Questions

In the most recent action in Depomed, Inc. v. Purdue Pharma LP, a patent infringement case involving pain reliever OxyContin, Purdue Pharma asked the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to confirm that certain of the defenses it raised under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and 103 remained after a decision in the inter partes review (IPR) proceedings pertaining to the same patent. Depomed offered several theories to prevent Purdue from pursuing the various infringement defenses it had raised.

First, the court denied Depomed’s theory of statutory estoppel. Depomed had argued that Purdue could have raised these defenses in the IPR, arguing that the current on-sale bar issue related to the MS Contin® product could have been argued in the IPR based on documentation about the MS Contin® product.

The court noted that “Inter partes review cannot replace the district court in all instances, for example, when claims are challenged in district court as invalid based on the on-sale bar…” Quoting Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp. Purdue argued that its on-sale bar and § 102(g) defenses were not based solely on patents or printed publications. Rather, the publications were used to support its contentions that “the claimed invention was on sale prior to the filing of the patents-at-issue, or invented by another before that time.” The court agreed that using the publications for support did not transform these defenses “into a statutory ground for relief in an IPR.”

The court also declined Depomed’s argument that Purdue adopted its position in bad faith.  The court noted that throughout the case Purdue had argued that a stay pending the IPR matter would streamline the invalidity issues in the litigation matter.

Finally the court denied Depomed’s theory of judicial estoppel due to statements Purdue made in an effort to obtain the stay pending the IPR. While noting that the court appreciated Depomed’s frustration at having to litigate issues already presented to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), it could not “ignore the fact that the Federal Circuit has determined that it is appropriate to do so.” The court noted that the IPR proceedings reduced the number of defenses and references that remained available to Purdue in the litigation matter.

The “hybrid” procedure of inter partes review has been considered since its inception by some to be litigation at occurs at the patent office, rather than in district court.  The designation of IPRs and other procedures as “patent office trials” by the America Invents Act (AIA), as well as adherence to the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) in many instances helped contribute to this sentiment.  However, in Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee, No. 15-446 (June 20, 2016), the Supreme Court put this notion to rest, concluding that, “in [] significant respects, inter parties review is less like a judicial proceeding and more like a specialized agency proceeding.”  

In Cuozzo, the Court upheld the prior Federal Circuit decision, in which Cuozzo had challenged – and lost – on two procedural aspects of inter partes review: (1) the reviewability of the Board’s institution decisions and (2) the use of a “broadest reasonable construction” (BRC) standard in claim construction. Continue Reading Cuozzo Court Concludes “Hybrid” Inter Partes Review a Specialized Procedure within Patent Office Agency Proceedings