Outside Publication

A Look at Key USPTO Director Review Decisions and their Significance, IPWatchdog

June 17, 2024

Prior to the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., while there were some mechanisms for review of decisions by Patent Trial and Appeal Board panels, Director Review (DR) as a standalone review mechanism was essentially nonexistent. After Arthrex, however, that changed—with the US Patent and Trademark Office setting forth an interim DR process, followed by a revised DR process, and now formal rulemaking in April 2024. In an article for IPWatchdog, partner Alexander Stein and associate Ted Rand briefly comment on some notable trends in DR requests—both in who is making the requests and in the nature of the requests most likely to catch the Director’s attention.

View the full IPWatchdog article >>