Tying Patent Reviews to US Manufacturing Cuts Tech’s Leverage

The US Patent and Trademark Office’s move to factor where a patent challenger’s products are made into decisions about which validity reviews move forward could tilt access to the agency’s administrative tribunal toward companies with US manufacturing, attorneys say.

When deciding whether to institute inter partes or post-grant review of issued patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, considerations will include “the extent to which any products accused of infringement in a parallel proceeding are manufactured in the United States or are related to investments in American manufacturing operations,” PTO Director John Squires said in a memo last week. ...