More Bites at the Apple?

Bob Stoll, partner and chair of the Intellectual Property Group in Washington, D.C., penned the IPWatchdog article “More Bites at the Apple?” The article discusses why weak estoppels after a final decision at the Patent Trial and Appeals Board are becoming a problem within the patent-holder community.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been saying that the percentage of subsequent filings of IPRs is relatively low, since follow-on petitions in IPRs are only permitted by the same petitioner when there was no written decision in a previous case. The USPTO claims that “gang tackling” of patents is not occurring at the rates patent owners argue that it is happening. However, Bob used the example of TCL Communications’ case to showcase how companies are finding ways to file subsequent IPRs.

Read “More Bites at the Apple?”