Fizzle Not Sizzle

The justices of the supreme court neatly side-stepped a thorny constitutional issue in the Arthrex case by giving the Commissioner of patents discretionary review authority over decisions made by the the patent board of appeals. And there is now a new interim procedure. See below.

As a result of the recent Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Arthrex, Inc., the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has implemented an interim procedure whereby review of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final decision may be initiated sua sponte by the Director or requested a party to a PTAB proceeding. At this time, a party may request Director review of a final written decision in an inter partes review or post-grant review by filing a request for rehearing by the Director of a PTAB decision and concurrently submitting a notification of that request to the Office by email to Director_PTABDecision_Review@uspto.gov, copying counsel for the parties.