Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)

Glossary

An administrative board within the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) created by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA) that:

Replaced the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences as of September 16, 2012.
Is responsible for hearing and ruling on certain disputes concerning US patents and patent applications, primarily:
- appeals by a patent applicant from a USPTO patent examiner's final refusal to allow a patent application or adverse decision in an ex parte patent reexamination proceeding;
- inter partes review (IPR), covered business method review (CBM) (until September 15, 2020), and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings filed by a party challenging the patentability of an issued patent; and
- derivation proceedings filed by a subsequent patent applicant claiming that an earlier patent applicant for the same invention derived the invention from the subsequent patent applicant.

Generally, PTAB decisions concerning IPRs, CBMs, PGRs, and ex parte reexamination proceedings may be appealed only to the US Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. For more on proceedings at the PTAB, see PTAB Proceedings Toolkit. For more on appealing PTAB decisions, see Practice Note, Appealing Patent Trial and Appeal Board Final Written Decisions.

Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) | Practical Law