Patent Office Dumps Precedent At Odds With New Disclosure Rules

The US Patent and Trademark Office director removed the precedential status of two opinions from the agency’s appeals board that allowed those challenging a patent’s validity to identify financially interested parties without changing their original filing date.

As of Feb. 3, two decisions from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board are no longer binding on the tribunal, the PTO said in a statement Thursday, because Director John Squires designated a conflicting opinion as precedential.

Squires said in an October memo marking PTAB’s 2015 decision in Corning Optical Communications RF, LLC v. PPC Broadband Inc. as precedential that petitioners must ...