Patent owners will have new avenues to amend patent claims while their patents are being challenged at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under a pilot program announced March 14.
The new program presents patent owners with the previously unavailable option of getting preliminary guidance from the PTO’s Patent and Appeal Board when trying to amend patent claims during an administrative law proceeding.
It also lets patent owners revise their motions to amend following the PTAB advice, as well as after a petitioner opposes the initial motion. That option was also previously unavailable to patent owners.
Motions to amend have...