Allegations of ex parte PTAB Communications raise more questions of due process, APA violations

Allegations of ex parte PTAB Communications raise more questions of due process, APA violationsOn January 4th, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued what can only be considered a scathing response to a motion requesting an oral hearing which was filed by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in a series of six inter partes review (IPR) proceedings in which the Saint Regis tribe is the patent owner. Applying some very interesting legal reasonings, including a due dates in the cases’ scheduling orders which passed before the Saint Regis tribe was the patent owner, the PTAB moved to prevent the Saint Regis tribe from filing any additional papers in these IPRs without prior authorization from the Board.

The PTAB’s decision to largely prevent the Saint Regis tribe from filing any additional papers in the case to which they are a party seems remarkable given the fact that the PTAB has opened up the proceedings of the Saint Regis trials to allow amicus briefings from third parties with an interest in the case. So, it would seem that the PTAB seems more interested in giving the agency’s supporters a say in these cases than the actual patent owner whose property rights are on the line, hardly the result one would anticipate if the PTAB were a court operating with any true sense of justice.

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2018/01/25/ex-parte-ptab-due-process-apa-violations/id=92518/