Fed. Circ. Redefines 'Real Party In Interest' In USPTO Reviews

By Craig Countryman (September 7, 2018, 1:15 PM EDT) -- The Federal Circuit's decision in Applications in Internet Time LLC v. RPX Corporation[1] creates new hurdles for companies that ask the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to institute an inter partes or post-grant review. The decision expansively interprets the term "real party in interest," which appears in multiple statutes that restrict review. Section 315(b) precludes review where the petitioner, a "real party in interest, or privy of the petitioner" is served with a patent infringement complaint more than a year before the petition. Section 312(a)(2) requires that the petition "may be considered only if" it "identifies all real parties in interest." Applications in Internet Time dealt with the first provision, vacating the USPTO's determination that the one-year time bar didn't apply....

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