Author:
Matthew Hampton
August 6, 2026
The Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office (EPO Guidelines) are publicly accessible instructions on the practice and procedure to be followed in the various aspects of the examination of European patent applications and patents in accordance with the European Patent Convention (EPC) and its Implementing Regulations. The EPO Guidelines are routinely modified to reflect changes in procedure and in the application of law. The April 2026 edition entered into force on 1 April 2026, superseding the April 2025 edition.<... Read more
Author:
Xiaohua (Joyce) Guo, Ph.D.
July 20, 2026
In Intellectual Pixels Limited v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC, the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision holding claims 1-12 of U.S. Patent No. 10,681,109 unpatentable as obvious.<... Read more
Author:
Diane Jones
June 30, 2026
On June 4, 2026, the PTAB issued a final written decision in a petition (IPR2025-00109, Jumio Corporation) filed against Patent 11,874,910 B2 to FaceTec, Inc., determining, in a majority opinion, that no challenged claims of claims 1-24 are unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 318(a).<... Read more
Author:
Robert W. Downs
June 24, 2026
The current Director of the USPTO, John Squires, has been instrumental in making changes to how the USPTO does business, literally. Right off the bat, Director Squires clarified the USPTO policies regarding Section 101 patentability in the case of advanced technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence and medical diagnosis. In an "Open Letter" titled "Bringing the USPTO Back to the Future," Director Squires announced that effective October 20, 2025, he will personally determine whether to institute trial proceedings rather than delegating this function to PTAB panels. This announcement is intended to restore proper respect for the Patent Office’s examination process and the presumption of validity that issued patents deserve. It is expected that these changes will favor patent owners.<... Read more
Author:
Derek Lightner, Ph.D.
April 27, 2026
In the recent appeal of U.S. Appl. No. 18/018,555 (Appeal 2026-000028), an examiner’s obviousness position was reversed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) based on the examiner’s failure to set forth a factual basis for a modification of a primary reference to reflect a claim feature directed to dimensional characteristics of a claimed article.<... Read more
Author:
Alec C. Dorn
March 13, 2026
Ex parte Liu (PTAB December 17, 2025) (Appeal No. Appeal 2025-002084, in Application Serial No. 16/765,024) (before Yang, Boudreau, and Hardman, APJ) (opinion by Boudreau, APJ)<... Read more
Author:
Yan Cong, Ph.D.
March 12, 2026
In In re Blue Buffalo Enterprises, Inc., No. 2024-1611 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 14, 2026), the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s decision affirming the Examiner’s obviousness rejection after rejecting Blue Buffalo’s narrow construction of the claim term “configured for”.<... Read more
Author:
Derek Lightner, Ph.D.
December 19, 2025
An obviousness rejection was recently reversed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) by the panel of Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) authored by Debra L. Dennett, and further including Jeffrey W. Abraham and Avelyn M. Ross in U.S. Appl. No. 17/395,422 (the 422 Application). The PTAB reversed the obviousness finding of examiner Justin Fischer, supported by Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) Katelyn W. Smith, and Quality Assurance Specialist (TQAS) Colleen P. Dunn, on the alleged obviousness of the claims over a combination of three to five references, three of which were the applicant-appellant’s own prior art. The main claim on appeal recited<... Read more
Author:
Derek Lightner, Ph.D.
September 23, 2025
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board recently reversed an obviousness finding of (at least initially non-signatory) Examiner Audrey Buttice, supported by Supervisory Patent Examienr (SPE) Joanne Hama and Office of Patent Quality Assurance (OPQA) official, Jeffrey Siew, for a method of treating a drug-resistant cancer type with an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) in Ex part Yonesaka, et al., Appl. No. 16/485,777 (Appeal 2024-003040; Technology Center 1600).<... Read more
Author:
Diane Jones
August 4, 2025
Appeal of Examiner’s Final Rejection of claims 18-20 reversed by PTAB based on calculation of an effective human dosage from a “minimal risk of toxicity” dosage for a Cebus monkey rather than a calculation of “minimum pharmacologic activity in humans.”<... Read more