The USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) has issued two revisions to the Standard Operating Procedures with the stated goal of “increasing transparency, predictability, and reliability across the USPTO”. The first, SOP 1, aims to provide clarity and certainty to the PTAB practice of expanded panels, which has come under criticism in recent years […] In their latest triumph at the PTAB, Maier & Maier PLLC has won a major victory for GREE, Inc. by securing a non-institution decision, overcoming 3 challenges to their social gaming patent asserted by Supercell Oy in PGR2018-0037. The challenged patent (9,662,573) covers a method for controlling a server device, a server device, a computer-readable […] Under 315(b) of the AIA (America Invents Act), Inter Partes Review “may not be instituted if the petition requesting the proceeding is filed more than 1 year after the date on which the petitioner, real party in interest, or privy of the petitioner is served with a complaint alleging infringement of the patent.”[1] The Click-to-Call […] The USPTO has published a Notice in the Federal Register of proposed patent fee changes for public comments. The fee adjustments resulting from this effort will not be implemented until the January 2021 timeframe. The proposed average five percent increase to fees is similar to fees rising by 1.6 percent annually over a three year […] Maier & Maier is pleased to announce that one of our partners, Stephen G. Kunin has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2019 25th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. This recognition in the field of Patent Law has been released publicly and is now available on www.bestlawyers.com. We congratulate him […] In Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Nos. 18-1638 to 18-1643, the Federal Circuit, in a precedential decision, affirmed the PTABs denial of St. Regis’s motion to terminate IPRs filed by Mylan based on tribal sovereign immunity. Tribal immunity does not apply in IPR proceedings because the USPTO is pursuing an adjudicatory agency action. […] The PTAB has designated five new decisions as informative, three on IPR practice procedure and two ex parte decisions (one on issue preclusion and one on claim construction): Ariosa Diagnostics v. Isis Innovation Ltd., IPR2012-00022, Paper 55 (PTAB Aug. 7, 2013) Here the Board provides guidance on foreign depositions, both on the location where they […] On July 1, 2018, the IP5 (Patent Offices for the US, the EU, Japan, Korea, and China) launched a new pilot program, PCT CS&E, testing collaborative search and examination for the PCT. The Pilot Program is currently scheduled to take a total of three years. In years one and two the IP5 will be conducting […] July 2, 2018 (Alexandria, VA) Maier & Maier PLLC is proud to announce its newest addition to the firm, Stephen Kunin, the former Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As an expert in patent law for over 48 years, Mr. Kunin is a highly respected member of […] The Patent Trial Appeal Board (PTAB) recently reversed an examiner’s 101 Alice rejection in Ex Parte Jadran Bandic, and in so doing, provided insight into how the PTO will administer Director Iancu’s 101 Guidance Memo. The PTAB found the examiner’s analysis in Step One of the Alice rejection only considered limited portions of the claim […]