Ingresar
Rules governing PTAB review practices in various proceedings
By Ferraiuoli LLC
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking public input on proposals to codify many existing Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) review policies and practices. These proposals would improve fairness, transparency, and efficiency in PTAB processes, further evolving and strengthening the proceedings of USPTO’s patents judicial Board.
The proposals in the NPRM reflect public feedback starting with a 2020 Request for Comments that received more than 820 comments and a 2023 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that resulted in 14,500 comments, as well as comments received in other fora, expressing a preference that key policy changes be formalized through rulemaking. The proposed rules address a subset of topics from the ANPRM; other topics raised in the ANPRM are still under consideration.
The proposed rules would enhance and build on existing precedent and guidance to determine whether to institute an AIA proceeding with regard to serial petitions, parallel petitions, and petitions implicating the same or substantially the same art or arguments previously presented to the USPTO. The proposed rules would also establish a separate briefing process for discretionary institution arguments and align the procedures for termination of proceedings pre- and post-institution.
Ferraiuoli LLC
Ferraiuoli LLC (FLLC) was founded in 2003 by the late Blas Ferraiuoli-Martínez, Eugenio Torres-Oyola and María Marchand-Sánchez. This group was then joined in 2004 by Fernando J. Rovira-Rullán, thus forming the founding core of FLLC. FLLC has grown exponentially since its founding from a law firm with three attorneys and a support staff of three to its current size of 54 attorneys with a support staff of 38. Also, FLLC has grown from initially being known as an intellectual property and corporate law boutique law firm to a multiservice law firm that handles most matters relevant to a business while continuing to earn praise for its leading intellectual property and corporate practices.
FLLC has been ranked as a leading law firm in Puerto Rico by the professional publication Chambers Latin America in intellectual property, corporate, bankruptcy, labor & employment, real estate, and tax law. Moreover, 17 FLLC partners have been ranked as leaders in their field by the same publication. 4 FLLC partners are ranked as leaders in Intellectual Property, no other firm has more than 2. This recognition in such a short period of time is a tribute to FLLC’s business model.
FLLC prides itself in doing its work faster and more cost-efficiently yet with the same quality as that of its main competitors. The founding name partners are available at all times to attend to client matters. Their work ethic sets the tone for the rest of the firm. FLLC’s founders’ goal has been steady from the outset: become one of the premier multiservice law firms in Puerto Rico.