On the heels of the rescission of the Fintiv guidance memorandum, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has again reshaped the PTAB’s approach to discretionary denials. On March 26, 2025, the Acting Director issued a new memorandum that fundamentally changes how the PTAB will handle inter partes review and post grant review petitions
Now, all IPR and PGR institution decisions will be decided in two stages: (1) a threshold analysis focused solely on discretionary denials related to parallel proceedings or issues already decided by the Patent Office; and (2) decisions regarding institution based on the merits of the petition…
