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USPTO director defends proposed limits on serial IPRs, lawmakers warn of fairness and litigation risks
Summary
Director Squires told the House Judiciary panel that a proposed rule aims to curb repeated inter partes review filings by encouraging joinder and restoring finality; lawmakers from both parties pressed him on transparency, potential retroactive denials, effects on small inventors and whether the agency considered increased district‑court litigation costs.
Director Squires, the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, told the House Judiciary Committee on March 24 that a notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to "restore fairness and balance" to inter partes review (IPR) by reducing serial petitions and encouraging joinder.
"The answer isn't serial filings. We think the answer should be gang tackling," Squires said, describing the proposal as striving toward a "one join and done" model to produce finality in patent challenges.
Why it matters: Members across the panel warned that curbing access to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) could push more disputes into district court, increasing litigation costs for smaller businesses and potentially undermining patent reliability. Committee members repeatedly cited…
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