Trump Patent Chief Requires Party Disclosures for Validity Cases

US Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires issued a memo Tuesday that now requires petitioners challenging the validity of patents to identify all financially interested parties before the challenges are instituted.

Squires’ memo designated as precedential a 2015 decision before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that granted patent owner PPC Broadband Inc.'s motion to dismiss and vacate the institution of Corning Optical Communications RF LLC’s validity challenge. Squires referenced in the memo to all PTAB judges his Oct. 9 Statement for the Record to the Senate, saying a “failure to appropriately discharge our duties with respect to properly ...