CAFC says PTAB time-bar decisions can be appealed

A U.S. federal court ruled en banc on Monday that decisions made by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) regarding whether inter partes review petitions meet timeliness requirements can be appealed, opening up another avenue patent owners can use to challenge final IPR decisions.

Under federal statute, PTAB is barred from instituting an IPR review if the petition was filed more than a year after the petitioner, or a privy of the petitioner, was served with a patent infringement complaint. Before Monday's ruling, PTAB decisions on whether a petition is time-barred from review were unappealable. ...