Post Grant Proceedings
The America Invents Act introduced game-changing proceedings which permit challenging the validity of issued patents before the Patent Trail and Appeal Board. These post grant proceedings include Inter Partes Review, Post Grant Review, and Covered Business Method Reviews. Each of these trial procedures was designed to reach a determination on the issue of patent validity more quickly and for significantly less expense than district court litigation. A comparison of these procedures can be found here.
Post grant proceedings blend aspects of patent prosecution (e.g., claim amendments and broadest reasonable interpretation of claim terms) with those of litigation (e.g., depositions, written discovery, oral hearings, and appeals to the Federal Circuit). Because of this duality, all members of RP’s post grant practice have experience both litigating in federal courts and prosecuting patents. RP’s post grant team has expertise representing petitioners and patent owners alike across a broad spectrum of technologies.
The landscape of patent litigation has changed. Whether patent owner or accused infringer, a robust post grant strategy has become critical to success in district court patent litigation. RP has successfully used post grant proceedings to leverage favorable outcomes in litigation and business negotiations. On the petitioner/patent challenger side, RP has helped its clients avoid substantial litigation costs through timely and successful post grant challenges leading to the early termination of district court litigation. On the other (patent owner) side of the fence, RP understands how to carefully marry litigation and post grant strategies together to provide effective results.