Five Things to Know For Patent Trial and Appeal Board Arguments

Hearings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board can be make-or-break moments in administrative challenges.

Litigants in patent challenges under the America Invents Act, including inter partes reviews, may request an oral hearing at the PTAB, where each side has an opportunity to argue issues and answer questions from a three-judge panel.

PTAB hearings can be hybrids of arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, an interview with a PTO patent examiner, and a district court hearing on the meaning of patent claims, according to Banner & Witcoff Ltd. attorney Frederic ...