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34 decisions · PTAB

PTAB Guidance and Memoranda

Guidance documents, memoranda and notices on PTAB trial and appeal practice. Each post is marked in force, superseded or rescinded as the USPTO’s own pages list it, with a link to the official document.

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  1. PTAB guidance · July 20, 2026SOP 1 (rev. 17): Assignment of judges to panelsSOP 1 (Revision 17) sets out how the Chief Judge's designee(s) assign three-judge panels (APJ1, APJ2, APJ3) in all PTAB jurisdictions, including appeals and AIA proceedings. It prescribes paneling by conflicts, jurisdiction, technology,…
  2. PTAB guidance · June 29, 2026Director Review processThe USPTO's Director Review process page explains how parties may seek Director review of Board decisions in part 42 proceedings under 37 C.F.R. § 42.75 (effective October 31, 2024). It sets out who may request review, the permitted…
  3. PTAB guidance · Mar. 11, 2026Additional Discretionary Institution Considerations – U.S. Manufacturing and Small Business Use of AIA ProceedingsThe memorandum adds three factors the Director will weigh when deciding whether to institute IPR and PGR: U.S. manufacture of the accused products, U.S. manufacture of the patent owner's competing products, and whether the petitioner is a…
  4. PTAB guidance · Dec. 12, 2025Consolidated Trial Practice Guide (December 2025, web)The consolidated Trial Practice Guide folds the August 2012 Practice Guide and the August 2018 and July 2019 updates into one statement of standard Board practice in AIA trials (IPR, PGR and derivation). It states that the Board will…
  5. PTAB guidance · Nov. 18, 2025Voluntary Search Disclosure Declaration FAQsThe FAQs explain the voluntary Search Disclosure Declaration (SDD) described in a USPTO memorandum issued November 17, 2025. A petitioner may submit a short explanation of how it located the asserted art, and the Office may treat that…
  6. PTAB guidance · Nov. 17, 2025Voluntary Search Disclosure Declarations as a Favorable Factor in Institution DecisionsThe memorandum lets IPR and PGR petitioners voluntarily submit a Search Disclosure Declaration (SDD) describing how they located the asserted prior art. The Office will treat a voluntary SDD as a non-exclusive, non-dispositive favorable…
  7. PTAB guidance · Oct. 28, 2025Precedential designation of Corning Optical Communications RF, LLC v. PPC Broadband, Inc., IPR2014-00440, Paper 68 (except § II.E.1)The memorandum designates Corning Optical Communications RF, LLC v. PPC Broadband Inc., IPR2014-00440, Paper 68 (PTAB Aug. 18, 2015), as precedential, except for § II.E.1. It restores the Office's pre-SharkNinja practice of requiring…
  8. PTAB guidance · Oct. 17, 2025Director Institution of AIA Trial ProceedingsEffective October 20, 2025, the Director, in consultation with at least three PTAB judges, determines whether to institute trial in all IPR and PGR proceedings, considering discretionary considerations, the merits, and non-discretionary…
  9. PTAB guidance · Oct. 8, 2025Appeals Review PanelThe page describes the Appeals Review Panel (ARP), established July 24, 2023, which the Director may convene sua sponte, at her or his sole discretion, to review Board decisions in ex parte, reexamination and reissue appeals. It sets the…
  10. PTAB guidance · Oct. 8, 2025Delegated Rehearing PanelThe page explains how the Director, within the Director Review process, may delegate review of a PTAB decision in an AIA proceeding to a Delegated Rehearing Panel (DRP) of three Board members drawn from the Chief Judge, Deputy Chief Judge…
  11. PTAB guidance · Oct. 3, 2025Interim Director Discretionary ProcessThe webpage sets out the Interim Director Discretionary Process, a bifurcated approach under the March 26, 2025 Process Memorandum in which the Director decides discretionary denial of IPR and PGR petitions before a Board panel addresses…
  12. PTAB guidance · Sept. 16, 2025PTAB consideration of prior findings of fact and conclusions of lawWhen claims challenged in an AIA trial, or substantially similar claims, have already been adjudicated post-issuance by the Office, a district court, or the ITC, and the Board reaches an initial or final decision on a finding of fact or…
  13. PTAB guidance · Aug. 12, 2025SOP 2 (rev. 11) AddendumThe Addendum amends Section II.B.1 of PTAB Standard Operating Procedure 2 (Rev. 11) so that the Advisory Committee has five members, one from each of five listed USPTO business units, with stated exclusions for certain individuals. It…
  14. PTAB guidance · July 31, 2025Enforcement and Non-waiver of 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(4) and Permissible Uses of General Knowledge in Inter Partes ReviewsThe USPTO will enforce, and no longer waive, 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(4), which requires an IPR petition to specify where each claim element is found in the prior art patents or printed publications relied upon. As a result, applicant…
  15. PTAB guidance · July 29, 2025Final Written Decision Procedures for AIA Trial ProceedingsThe memorandum directs that, effective immediately and absent extraordinary circumstances, Board panels assigned to an inter partes review or post-grant review where an oral hearing has not yet occurred will address all grounds raised in…
  16. PTAB guidance · Apr. 25, 2025FAQs for Interim Processes for PTAB Workload ManagementSuperseded by Interim Director Discretionary Process (webpage). The FAQs explain how the bifurcated process under the March 26, 2025 Process Memorandum works for IPR and PGR institution. A patent owner may file a discretionary denial…
  17. PTAB guidance · Mar. 26, 2025Interim Processes for PTAB Workload ManagementThe memorandum sets up a temporary, bifurcated institution process for IPRs and PGRs. The Director, in consultation with at least three PTAB judges, first decides discretionary denial, and only if denial is not appropriate is the petition…
  18. PTAB guidance · Mar. 24, 2025Guidance on USPTO’s rescission of “Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation”The memorandum explains that the USPTO rescinded the June 21, 2022 "Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation" on February 28, 2025, restoring the guidance in place…
  19. PTAB guidance · Feb. 6, 2024The Applicability of Existing Regulations as to Party and Practitioner Misconduct Related to the Use of Artificial IntelligenceThe memorandum explains that existing USPTO rules, including the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct and the signature certification in 37 C.F.R. § 11.18, apply to party and practitioner submissions regardless of whether artificial…
  20. PTAB guidance · Oct. 5, 2023SOP 4 (rev. 1): Procedure for Pre-Issuance Optional Decision Review and Post-Issuance Decision ReviewSOP 4 (rev. 1) sets internal Board procedures for optional pre-issuance review of draft PTAB decisions, through a Circulation Judge Pool of non-management peer judges and a PTAB Management Pre-Issuance Optional Review team, and for…
  21. PTAB guidance · Oct. 5, 2023SOP 3 (rev. 2, formerly SOP 9): Procedure for Decisions Remanded from the Federal Circuit for Further ProceedingsSOP 3 sets the Board's procedure for handling cases remanded from the Federal Circuit. It sets a goal of deciding remanded cases within six months of receiving the mandate, requires parties in remanded trials to contact the Board within…
  22. PTAB guidance · Sept. 22, 2023Guidance on Paneling of CasesThe memorandum directs PTAB and TTAB management to avoid empaneling cases to judges who hold stock or bonds, publicly traded or privately held, in any disclosed party or real party in interest, regardless of dollar value. It is interim…
  23. PTAB guidance · July 24, 2023SOP 2 (rev. 11): Designation or de-designation of decisions as precedential or informativeSOP 2 (Revision 11) sets the Board's procedure for nominating, reviewing and designating issued PTAB decisions as precedential or informative, and for de-designating them. Nominations go to an Advisory Committee and to PTAB Executive…
  24. PTAB guidance · July 17, 2023IOP: Processing Procedures for Ex Parte AppealsThis Internal Operating Procedure describes how Administrative Patent Judges prepare, circulate, and finalize opinions and related materials in ex parte appeals, including paralegal review and co-panelist review. It formalizes current…
  25. PTAB guidance · July 13, 2023Guidance Memorandum for the Ex Parte Appeals ProcessThe memorandum consolidates into a single source the PTAB's existing internal practice for writing ex parte appeal opinions and handling related procedures, and states that earlier Board memoranda on the topic are no longer in effect. It…
  26. PTAB guidance · June 21, 2022Interim procedure for discretionary denials in AIA post-grant proceedings with parallel district court litigationRescinded on February 28, 2025. The memorandum sets interim Board practice on discretionary denial under the Fintiv factors where there is parallel litigation. The PTAB will not deny institution under Fintiv (i) when the petition presents…
  27. PTAB guidance · June 9, 2022Updated applicant admitted prior art (AAPA) memorandumSuperseded on July 31, 2025 by Enforcement and Non-waiver of 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(4) and Permissible Uses of General Knowledge in Inter Partes Reviews (July 31, 2025). The memorandum sets out the USPTO's reading of 35 U.S.C. § 311(b) on…
  28. PTAB guidance · Jan. 6, 2021Indefiniteness in AIA post-grant proceedings memorandumThe memorandum directs the Board to analyze indefiniteness under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) in AIA post-grant proceedings using the Supreme Court's Nautilus approach, the approach used by district courts, rather than the Packard approach. It…
  29. PTAB guidance · Aug. 18, 2020Applicant admitted prior art (AAPA) memorandumSuperseded on June 9, 2022 by Updated applicant admitted prior art (AAPA) memorandum (June 9, 2022). The memorandum sets the USPTO's binding interpretation of 35 U.S.C. § 311(b) for statements of the applicant (AAPA) in the challenged…
  30. PTAB guidance · Nov. 20, 2019Consolidated Trial Practice Guide (November 2019)Superseded by Consolidated Trial Practice Guide (December 2025, web). The November 2019 Consolidated Trial Practice Guide folds the August 2012 Practice Guide and the August 2018 and July 2019 updates into one document describing AIA…
  31. PTAB guidance · July 16, 2019Trial Practice Guide (July 2019 update)Superseded on November 20, 2019 by Consolidated Trial Practice Guide (November 2019). The July 2019 Trial Practice Guide update revises selected sections of the August 2012 Practice Guide on a rolling basis. It sets practices on ex parte…
  32. PTAB guidance · Apr. 19, 2019Notice regarding options for amendments through reissues or reexaminationsThe USPTO published a notice of information summarizing existing Office practice on reissue and reexamination options through which a patent owner may amend claims involved in an AIA trial, both before and after the PTAB issues a final…
  33. PTAB guidance · Aug. 13, 2018Trial Practice Guide (August 2018 update)Superseded on November 20, 2019 by Consolidated Trial Practice Guide (November 2019). The August 2018 update revises selected sections of the Trial Practice Guide on a rolling basis. It addresses expert testimony, word and page limits,…
  34. PTAB guidance · Aug. 14, 2012Office Patent Trial Practice Guide (August 2012)Superseded on November 20, 2019 by Consolidated Trial Practice Guide (November 2019). The Office Patent Trial Practice Guide explains the general framework of the final trial rules in 37 CFR Part 42 for inter partes review, post-grant…

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