Women Attorneys Make Slight Gain in Patent Board Appearances

A Patent Trial and Appeal Board Bar Association report called for law firms to include more women in the proceedings after two years of little improvement in the dearth of women represented at the tribunal.

The study revealed that women account for 12% of total attorney appearances in post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s PTAB, up from 10% in 2019. Women made up only eight of the top 100 lawyers appearing in the most PTAB trials in 2021, compared to 6 of the top 100 in 2019, according to the report.

When similar results were found ...