Sterne Kessler Publishes New Report “Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2020 Decisions”

Washington D.C. (January 27, 2021) – Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox is pleased to release Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2020 Decisions. The fourth annual report provides insights into last year’s significant rulings in appeals from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The report editors are Directors Michael Joffre, Ph.D., and Jon E. Wright, who also serves as an author. Joining Wright as authors are: Directors Dallin Glenn, William H. Milliken, Pauline M. Pelletier, R. Wilson “Trey” Powers III, Ph.D., and Deirdre M. Wells; Counsel Kristina Caggiano Kelly and Anna G. Phillips; and Associate Kathleen Wills.

Last year, the global COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for American courts. By making several changes, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was able to largely continue its operations. The most visible of these changes was that the Court began to hear all arguments telephonically, with some early denials of at least some parties’ requests for an oral hearing. Another less visible shift was that the Court issued summary affirmances in cases in which there was no oral argument.

An examination and analysis of these trends and a wide range of topics, including: Arthrex, standing, real-party-in-interest, estoppels, scope of judicial review, and waiver are addressed in the report. Also, for the first time, the editors expanded coverage beyond appeals from the PTAB to include appeals from the ITC.

The full publication, Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2020 Decisions, and the individual articles are available on the firm’s website here in HTML and PDF formats. In the coming months, the firm will issue a companion report focused on cases adjudicated before the PTAB in 2020.