
PTAB Pendulum Swings in Favor of Discretionary Denial, PTAB Litigation Blog
Visit the PTAB Litigation Blog
Recent developments at the USPTO suggest a significant shift in favor of the PTAB exercising discretionary denial and uncertainty on behalf of parties to PTAB proceedings. On March 24, 2025, following the February 28, 2025 rescission of former Director Vidal’s June 21, 2022 memorandum entitled “Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation,” Chief Administrative Patent Judge Scott R. Boalick circulated a memorandum to Members of the PTAB (covered here). Two days later, Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart circulated a separate memorandum (covered here) entitled “Interim Process for PTAB Workload Management.”