Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2023

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

The petitioners, patent owners and law firms topping the PTAB rankings

With filings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board suggesting another strong year, Managing IP has analysed the leading players at the PTAB and also included a PTAB category in our IP Stars rankings for the first time

aia20petitions20as20of20feb205.jpg

The early indications from 2015 point towards nothing stopping the momentum behind the increasingly popular PTAB proceedings.

The USPTO’s latest figures reveal that 115 PTAB petitions were filed in January this year, 100 of which were IPRs. While the IPR figure was down on the 177 filed in December, it was up greatly on the 60 filed in January last year.

And February already looks set to blow last year’s figure out of the water. Some 60 IPR petitions had already been filed this month by the end of February 9, putting it ahead of the 54 IPRs filed in all of February 2014.

In addition, the Federal Circuit ultimately decided to implicitly endorse current PTAB practices at the end of January in its first opinion on an IPR appeal. Its in Re Cuozzo Speed Technologies decision affirmed the PTAB’s final determination, and found no error in the Board’s claim construction under the broadest reasonable interpretation standard, the Board’s obviousness determination and the Board’s denial of Cuozzo’s motion to amend.

Observers concluded that the Federal Circuit had approved the basic framework for conducting PTAB proceedings, although a strongly worded dissent from Judge Pauline Newman did provide some pointers for future battle grounds over PTAB proceedings. The decision will provide certainty for PTAB practitioners.

In addition, the institution and invalidation rates – while down from the “death-squad” days of 2013 –are still high enough that the PTAB is by far the best shot for someone looking to get a patent invalidated.

Managing IP recently analysed which petitioners, patent owners and law firms were most active in 2014. Apple was the most-active challenger of patents, Zond was the most-targeted patent owner, and Fish & Richardson was the law firm involved in the most proceedings. You can see the full data of the most-active players at the PTAB in 2014 here (non-subscribers will have to take a trial to the website to view).

Aside from crunching the numbers to see which companies did the best in terms of volume, Managing IP also recently included PTAB firm rankings for the first time in our IP Stars guide to the leading IP firms and lawyers, which has just been published online.

You can access the 2015 IP Stars rankings here. To view the United States rankings, choose “United States” from the “Americas” drop down menu. You can then view the PTAB rankings by either scrolling down the page or choosing “PTAB litigation (USPTO)” from the “All practice areas” drop-down menu.

Don't forget: you can keep up with all of Managing IP's PTAB coverage on our dedicated topic page at www.managingip.com/ptab 

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Patient groups and generics makers may have to bear the brunt of India’s latest attempt at patent reform
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP lawyer about their life and career
Paolo Tavolato, who will share the role, said private equity support would help the IP consultancy achieve its ambitious M&A plans
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has hired former Anand & Anand partner Swati Sharma and hopes to compete with specialist IP firms
Rapporteur-Judge András Kupecz ruled that education and training weren’t legitimate reasons for a member of the public to access documents
Searches for comparison prior art will be a little easier, but practitioners will have to put more thought into claim construction and design patent titles
The Helsinki local division rejected AIM Sport’s request for a preliminary injunction in a dispute with rival Supponor
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis coverage from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
The FTC’s plans to scrutinise improperly listed Orange Book patents could make these listings more important in litigation, but firms should be looking at this anyway
Counsel at Debevoise & Plimpton explain how they helped food delivery business Grubhub avoid a preliminary injunction at the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit