Pressure on Patent Judges to Alter Rulings Bolsters Reform Push

A new federal watchdog study has re-upped long-simmering questions about the independence of judges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, amplifying calls to prevent politics from influencing internal judicial decisions at the board.

The Government Accountability Office’s preliminary findings, issued late last week, show that 75% of 234 surveyed judges believe that oversight by politically appointed leadership at the US Patent and Trademark Office has cramped their decision-making autonomy. The majority also said they felt pressure to “change or modify” aspects of decisions when dealing with certain patent validity challenges under the America Invents Act.

Those dynamics had ...