Patent Chief Squires Withdraws Precedential Status of Decision

US Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires removed the “precedential” designation on Friday from a decision that postponed review of parties challenging a patent’s validity at the agency’s administrative tribunal.

The original decision in SharkNinja Operating LLC v. iRobot Corp. held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board doesn’t need to examine whether all parties with a financial interest in invalidating a patent have been disclosed when deciding whether to take up a validity challenge. This applied unless the patent owner alleged the petition should be barred based on an unnamed party.

Squires withdrew the precedential status because analysis ...