Fewer Bites at the IPR Apple? Impact of Recent Decisions and Guidance on Multiple Petitions

What can you expect when multiple inter partes review petitions are filed against the same patent?

Recent decisions from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board indicate it may in some cases deny later "serial" IPR petitions even when filed by petitioners different from those responsible for an initial petition on the same patent.

The Board has also changed its IPR practice guide to announce that it will scrutinize multiple "parallel" petitions filed by the same petitioner simultaneously. This article discusses these recent developments relating to serial and parallel IPR petitions and offers practical tips for practitioners.