The Acting Director of the USPTO, Coke Morgan Stewart, issued a discretionary denial of five inter partes reviews (IPRs) by iRhythm Technologies against Welch Allyn. The decision emphasized the petitioner's awareness of the patents and a failure to challenge them earlier as pivotal reasons for denial. Despite other considerations that might have supported the institution of reviews, the settled expectations of the patent owner were prioritized. This ruling is part of Stewart's application of new discretionary denial guidelines, aiming to manage PTAB workloads efficiently.
Petitioner's awareness of Patent Owner's applications and failure to seek early review of the patents favors denial and outweighs the above-discussed considerations.
The failure of the petitioner to challenge the patent sooner and the 'settled expectations' of the patent owner superseded those factors.
To ensure the PTAB can continue to meet its statutory obligations relating to ex parte appeals, the Director will exercise her discretion.
In this latest decision, Stewart found that, although a number of factors weighed against granting denial, discretionary denial was still warranted.
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