Law360, New York (July 24, 2015, 10:32 AM EDT) -- Since inter partes review and covered business method review proceedings began following the passage of the America Invents Act in September 2011, the rate of institution of proceedings has remained high. The relative success of the post-grant proceedings has resulted in an increasing number of petitions being filed before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, from 58 IPR and seven CBM petitions per month in 2013, to 125 IPR and 14 CBM petitions per month in 2014.[1] Such petitions are usually accompanied by an expert declaration providing support for issues and positions raised in the petition. Faced with the onslaught of petitions being filed, the PTAB appears more likely to rely on mechanisms and rationale that do not address the substance of the petition to reduce the number of petitions being filed and to make it more difficult for petitions to be granted and proceedings instituted. These approaches include the broad reading of § 325(d) and § 314(a) to provide the PTAB support in denying "serial" or "follow-on" IPR petitions.[2]...