How the new Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules impact the practice of inter partes reviews

摘要

Congress, as part of the American Invents Act (AIA), enacted the inter partes review (IPR) procedure in 2012. An IPR is a trial proceeding before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to review the patentability claims of a patent, but using only prior art consisting of patents or printed publications. Patents covering pharmaceutical products have been, increasingly, under attack by IPR proceedings. Given that there is no standing requirement, hedge funds and so-called public interest groups can readily file a petition for an IPR to invalidate patents owned by pharmaceutical companies.