Proposed Patent and Trademark Office Rule Poses Threat to Patent Practice and Could Stifle Innovation

• In this Bloomberg Law article, IP litigation partners Alyssa Caridis, Clem Roberts and Irena Royzman warn that a proposed rule from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could “radically change patent practice” and stifle innovation.
• The article calls for the PTO to withdraw its proposed rule, which was unveiled in May, saying it “fundamentally alters U.S. patent practice for no good reason and hurts inventors.”

The rule, our team observed, “Runs contrary to congressional intent and the realities of US patent litigation. It incentivizes patent challengers to target the weakest claim in one patent to eliminate strong claims in another without having to prove that the strong claims are invalid. If approved, the proposed rule could cause grievous harm to the patent system and American innovation.”