PHILADELPHIA, May 17, 2017—Duane Morris LLP has been ranked as the nation’s second most successful law firm among those representing petitioners before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The institutional success index (ISIX) scoring mechanism, devised by IP service Unified Patents, ranks the top firms representing both petitioners and patent owners. The score is based on a firm’s success in getting reviews instituted and having at least one claim in a patent invalidated. A firm receives one point for any successful institution, but loses one for a non-institution, and drops two points for any final written decision in which all of the challenged claims are found patentable.
Created in 2012, the PTAB serves as an administrative law body of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Board has become an important forum for patent cases, conducting trials, including inter partes, post-grant, and covered business method patent reviews and derivation proceedings, hearing appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and reexamination proceedings, and rendering decisions in interferences.
Inter partes review (IPR) is a popular procedure for adjudicating patent validity, and the ISIX rankings place Duane Morris among the best at winning these proceedings. Introduced by the America Invents Act (AIA) in 2012, IPR allows a petitioner to challenge the validity of a patent claim after a patent has been granted by the USPTO. Duane Morris attorneys advise clients on the merits and desirability of instituting proceedings before the USPTO, and also has substantial experience defending patents on behalf of patent owners during these proceedings. The firm has established a group focused specifically on IPR practice, comprising attorneys with the extensive procedural, technical and litigation experience, as well as oral advocacy skills, required to manage the challenges of this specialized area of intellectual property law.
About Duane Morris’ Patent Practice
Duane Morris is recognized as one of the United States’ most-active law firms in terms of patent filing and protection. National publications U.S. News and World Report and IP Law360 have all ranked Duane Morris among the leading law firms handling intellectual property, patents and patent-related issues. Our lawyers represent clients in patent disputes involving a wide variety of complex technologies, including biotechnology processes and products, pharmaceuticals (including ANDA-related litigation), medical devices, business systems and methods, computer systems and software, consumer products, chemical processes and products, electronic instruments, manufacturing processes and equipment, security and monitoring equipment, telecommunications equipment, and water treatment and purification systems, to name a few.
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s increasingly complex legal and business challenges through the collaborative culture of its more than 750 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practice areas, serving dozens of diverse industries.