New York Law Journal: A Groundswell of Support for Strengthening Patent Rights by Rob Maier
The America Invents Act (AIA) was enacted in 2011—after years of legislative efforts toward patent reform—and brought with it some of the most significant changes to the U.S. patent system most practitioners had seen in their lifetimes. The AIA affected nearly all facets of patent practice, but perhaps the most important change was the creation of the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (PTAB). The PTAB was heralded as the second-look review the patent system needed to address the expanding activities of patent trolls—entities that filed meritless, shakedown-style lawsuits, based on weak patents, to collect small settlements from many companies across industries.