One positive that came out of the recent debates in the Senate and House Judiciary Committees as they marked up their patent reform bills was general agreement that the inter partes review (IPR) process established by the America Invents Act is having serious unintended consequences. Rather than fulfilling its original intent of weeding out weak patents, IPR’s and the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) have become “patent death squads” as they strike down 77% of the patent claims under review. The IPR process is being used to undermine confidence in the patent system. A recent article estimates the resulting cost to the U.S. economy as over $1 trillion.
