USPTO Announces New Policy for Patent Trial and Appeal Board Virtual Hearings
Last week the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that as of March 14 Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) judges conducting virtual hearings will have to do so from a PTAB hearing room at a USPTO office. USPTO offices with PTAB hearing rooms are located in Alexandria, Virginia (USPTO Headquarters), Dallas, Denver, Detroit, and San Jose, California. This replaces a policy that allowed PTAB judges to appear remotely for virtual hearings.
Parties will still be allowed to appear remotely for virtual hearings from the USPTO offices but are encouraged to appear in person. Interested members of the public are invited to observe the virtual hearings in person, although they can still request the ability to attend virtual hearings remotely.
The attorneys at Renner Otto will continue to monitor this and other new PTAB developments. Feel free to reach out with any questions.