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3 November 2017Patents

PTAB and Federal Circuit in tune, research shows

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed three quarters of inter partes reviews (IPR) and covered business method (CBM) decisions made by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) up to October 15, 2017.

According to US law firm  Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, of the 258 PTAB decisions challenged by parties, 191 (74%) were affirmed by the Federal Circuit.

Another 26 resulted in mixed outcomes, where the court affirmed at least one part of the decision but reversed or vacated another part.

A minority, 30 decisions (11.6%), were reversed or vacated on every issue.

Approximately half of the decisions (117) were affirmed without a full written decision, using a rule 36 affirmance.

In its appeals from IPRs, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB on every issue in 171 (74%) cases, reversed or vacated on every issue in 28 (12%) cases, issued a mixed outcome in 24 (10%) cases, and dismissed 8 (3.5%) cases.

The outcomes were similar in CBM appeals. The Federal Circuit affirmed on every issue in 20 (74.1%) cases, issued a mixed outcome in 2 (7.4%) cases, dismissed 3 (11.1%) cases, and reversed or vacated on every issue in 2 (7.4%) cases.

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