The Patent Public Advisory Committee issued its Annual Report regarding fiscal year 2014. The PPAC Report contains a number of interesting points, but our review, of course, will focus on the PTAB and post grant proceedings. The PPAC’s review of post grant proceedings started off with a review of numerous key statistics, including:

• The Board comprised 214 judges at the end of FY 2014;
• Of the petitions filed, 71.6% were directed to electrical/computer software patents, 15.6% were mechanical patents, 6.8% were chemical, 5.6% were biotech/pharma, and 0.4% were design patents;
• 2,082 total petitions have been filed since the inception of the AIA, with a peak of 190 petitions filed in June of 2014;
• The Board has issued final written decisions in 129 IPR proceedings and 13 CBM proceedings;
• The 1,494 Petitions filed in FY 2014 made the Board the second busiest patent jurisdiction behind only the Eastern District of Texas (1,511 Complaints) and just ahead of the District of Delaware (1,335 Complaints); and
• For ex parte reexamination buffs, the Board affirmed or affirmed-in-part 67% of appeals, reversed 30%, and remanded or dismissed 3%.

Another interesting aspect of the PPAC Report was its recommendations to the PTO. First, the PPAC recommended continued vigilance in hiring new judges or otherwise handling the increased AIA workflow. Second, the PPAC suggested that the Board not be reluctant to exceed the one-year, statutory timeline for post grant proceedings. And, third, the PPAC recommend that the USPTO become more flexible in claim amendment practice to make them more available to patent owners.

The PPAC was formed as part of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 to advise the Director of the PTO on the management of patent operations. The Committee reviews the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of the patent operations and advises the Director on these matters.