Squires Designates as Informative Director Review Decision on RPIs

""While not the basis of today's decision, I note that inter partes review may be discretionarily denied on the basis that a petitioner is a sovereign." - USPTO Director John Squires U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John Squires on January 15 issued a Director Review decision, which he then designated as informative on January 16, in favor of Micron Technologies, vacating two Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions granting institution of inter partes review (IPR) for Yangtze Memory Technologies."

"The decision addressed the issue of real party in interest (RPI), which Squires said Micron had sufficiently disputed, while Yangtze failed to rebut the evidence presented and show that it had named all RPIs. Yangtze is a designated entity on the Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Entity List, which "identifies persons or addresses of persons reasonably believed to be involved, or to pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved, in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.""

The USPTO vacated two PTAB institution decisions for inter partes review concerning Yangtze Memory Technologies. Micron challenged whether Yangtze identified all real parties in interest and presented evidence suggesting foreign-government control that was not disclosed. Yangtze did not sufficiently rebut the evidence or demonstrate that all RPIs were named. Yangtze appears on the BIS Entity List, which flags entities posing national security or foreign policy risks. A Show Cause Order questioned whether adjudicating the petitions was an appropriate use of Office resources, though vacatur rested on inadequate RPI identification.

Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law