Who decides petitions related to Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings?

Petitions related to Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings are generally decided by the Chief Administrative Patent Judge or other PTAB officials. According to MPEP 1002.02(f):

“The Chief Administrative Patent Judge is authorized to re-delegate authority to decide any of these petitions or matters to the Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge, to a Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge, a Lead Administrative Patent Judge, or to an Administrative Patent Judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.”

Some examples of matters decided by PTAB judges include:

• Petitions to institute inter partes review, post-grant review, and derivation proceedings
• Motions in PTAB trials and interferences
• Requests for rehearing of PTAB decisions

For petitions to the Director of the USPTO from PTAB actions, the Deputy Director of the USPTO has been delegated authority to decide these petitions in many cases.

To learn more:

• petitions
• Patent Trial and Appeal Board
• PTAB
• patent appeals