IPWatchdog: Squires, Stewart Comments Align with Congress’s Original Vision for PTAB by Michael Spillner
“[Congress] would not have expected multiple serial or parallel IPR petitions, filed many years down the road after expectations about a patent’s validity have already been settled, to become the norm.”
At first glance, certain comments by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director nominee John Squires during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing raised questions about whether he sees the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in the same way as Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart. But on closer examination, and when viewed in context, Squires’s comments could reflect alignment not only with Acting Director Stewart, but with Congress’s objective when it passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) — that patent quality be vetted as early as possible, during or shortly after examination, and that later, back-end challenges only be available in limited circumstances.