The Supreme Court published its decision in United States v. Arthrex on June 21, 2021, granting the Director of the USPTO final review in decisions made by Administrative Patent Judges in proceedings in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The USPTO has provided guidance as to the near term effects of this decision in a series of questions and answers that were recently updated on July 20, 2021.

The guidance provided by the USPTO includes a discussion of the mechanisms to request review by the Director and clarifies that a party cannot request both review by the director and rehearing by the original PTAB panel. For more, visit: IBA IP Section