PTO to Use Data on PTAB Proceedings to Improve Program

The Patent and Trademark Office said it began an initiative to use five years of data from Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings to improve the PTAB process. The data, particularly feedback on inter partes review proceedings, will “ensure that the proceedings are as effective and fair as possible within [PTO’s] congressional mandate to provide administrative review of the patentability of patent claims after they issue,” PTO said in a Monday news release. “This initiative will examine procedures including, but not limited to, procedures relating to multiple petitions, motions to amend, claim construction, and decisions to institute. It will evaluate the input already received from small and large businesses, startups and individual inventors, IP law associations, trade associations, and patent practitioners, and will seek to obtain more feedback regarding potential procedural enhancements.” PTO Senior Advisor Coke Morgan Stewart will lead the effort, the office said.