"This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed we discuss whether patent owners are better off facing post-grant challenges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) or the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). PTAB practitioners Matt Phillips and Kevin Greenleaf joined me for about how patent owners and challengers should be strategically thinking about the shifting post-grant environment at the USPTO."
"Our conversation highlights the growing reality that post-grant practice is no longer defined solely by inter partes review (IPR), but that ex parte reexamination has seen a resurgence in popularity, which requires careful evaluating timing, procedural dynamics, cost, and institutional realities. During our conversation we attempt to answer the question of whether patent owners are better off in reexamination, or whether they are better off with IPR at the PTAB."
"For many years following enactment of the America Invents Act (AIA), IPR proceedings at the PTAB dominated post-grant patent challenges. Inter partes reexamination faded into history, being replaced by IPR proceedings. And ex parte reexamination was often viewed as a secondary tool used primarily when IPR was unavailable. That dynamic is changing. Both Phillips and Greenleaf noted that reexamination is again becoming part of mainstream post-grant strategy, driven in part by discretionary-denial concerns and evolving PTAB policies under new USPTO Director John Squires."
Post-grant patent practice is shifting from PTAB inter partes review dominance toward renewed use of ex parte reexamination at the USPTO. Ex parte reexamination is reemerging as a mainstream tool as petitioners and patent owners reassess timing, procedural dynamics, costs, and institutional realities. Discretionary-denial concerns and evolving PTAB policies under USPTO Director John Squires are contributing factors. The renewed use of reexamination prompts a strategic comparison between PTAB trials and CRU examination-style proceedings, highlighting differences in thresholds, timelines, and the broader implications for administrative patent review strategy.
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
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