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USPTO director returns IPR merits institution calls to PTAB panels
A Nov. 10 USPTO memo says Director John Squires will keep non-merits screening of IPR and PGR petitions and send surviving cases to three-judge PTAB panels for merits institution starting Nov. 16.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John A. Squires said in a Nov. 10 memorandum, co-signed with General Counsel John F. Duffy, that starting Nov. 16 he will return certain merits-based institution decisions in inter partes review and post-grant review to Patent Trial and Appeal Board panels1.
The memo says Squires will still review considerations that do not involve the merits of the patentability challenges, including discretionary factors, and may deny institution on those grounds1. Petitions that pass that screen go to a three-member PTAB panel that, on the director’s behalf, decides whether to institute based on merits-based considerations1.
Squires centralized institution authority in the director’s office in an Oct. 17, 2025, open letter cited in the new memo1. Reuters reported that he had cited structural, perceptual, and procedural concerns, including a perception of self-incentivization, and that he now says any perception of self-interest has no basis in fact.
Patently-O reported that if a panel institutes, a different panel is to conduct the trial, and that the memo tightens the merits showing the board is to apply.
Reuters, citing an office report published in April, said the PTAB’s IPR institution rate fell to 37 percent in 2026 under Squires, compared with more than 65 percent under former director Kathi Vidal. The Nov. 10 memo does not itself restate those rates1. Independent comment from patent owners, petitioners, or Congress is not in the coverage used here1.