美国专利商标局：11月16日起，专利复审是否立案的实体决定交回专利审判与上诉委员会法官组
美国专利商标局局长 John Squires 与总法律顾问 John Duffy 11月10日向专利审判与上诉委员会（PTAB）法官发出备忘录：自11月16日起，美国专利当事人复审（IPR）与授权后复审（PGR）是否立案的实体审查决定，交回 PTAB 的三人法官组作出，结束此前由局长本人集中决定全部立案申请的安排。
按新流程，立案申请先由局长办公室做自由裁量层面的初筛，考量公共利益、美国制造业与小企业等因素；通过初筛的申请，再由三人法官组就实体问题决定是否立案，立案决定须简述法官组看重的实体考量。若决定立案，审理将由另一组法官进行，与立案组不重合，以避免先入之见。
备忘录还收紧了实体标准，列出五项示例性指引，其中包括：申请人若未能就受挑战权利要求中的绝大多数作出法定的立案证明，法官组应拒绝立案；攻防相当时，也倾向于拒绝。
这一调整适用于尚未收到实体审查转介通知的 IPR 与 PGR 申请。背景是：Squires 于2025年10月把全部立案决定集中到局长办公室；到2026年9月，只有15%的申请被自由裁量拒绝、85%被转介做实体审查；过去一年里，PTAB 法官已协助作出325项以上的实体决定。局长办公室表示，局长仍保留自由裁量与非实体事项的审查，以统辖 PTAB 的整体政策。
（来源：美国专利商标局）
USPTO Returns Merits-Based Institution Decisions for Patent Trials to PTAB Panels Effective November 16
In a memorandum issued on November 10 to the judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires and General Counsel John Duffy announced that, effective November 16, merits-based institution decisions for inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings will return to three-judge PTAB panels, ending the period in which the Director personally decided all institution petitions.
Under the new process, petitions first go through the Director's screening on discretionary, non-merits considerations, including public-interest factors such as American manufacturing and small business concerns. Petitions that pass that screen then go to a three-judge panel, which decides institution on the merits on the Director's behalf and briefly states the merits considerations it found important. If a trial is instituted, a different panel, with no overlapping judges, will conduct it, to avoid any appearance of prejudgment.
The memorandum also tightens the merits standard through five illustrative guidelines. Among them, the Board will deny institution if the petitioner fails to make the requisite showing for a substantial majority of the challenged claims, and close calls resolve in favor of denial.
The change applies to IPR and PGR petitions that have not yet received a notice referring them for merits review. It follows Director Squires's October 2025 decision to centralize all institution decisions in the Director's office. By September 2026, only 15 percent of petitions were being denied on discretionary grounds while 85 percent were referred for merits review, and PTAB judges had assisted on more than 325 merits-based decisions over the past year. The Director will continue to review discretionary considerations to set overarching PTAB policy.
(Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)
来源：美国专利商标局
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：美国专利商标局总部（弗吉尼亚州亚历山德里亚）内的发明家名人堂。CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本图已裁为 16:9。 / Photo: The Inventors Hall of Fame inside the headquarters of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped to 16:9.
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