More Real Party In Interest, PTAB Litigation Blog
On New Year’s Eve, the PTAB opted to permit petitioner Elekta to adjust the real parties in interest identified in its Petition without adjusting the filing date of the petition. This decision is in direct conflict with several other Board decisions that denied institution or otherwise terminated proceedings (e.g., Amazon v. Appistry, IPR2015-00480, July 13, 2015) based on real party in interest errors by petitioners. The Elekta decision recognizes that “[p]atent owners have capitalized on the rule [i.e., 35 U.S.C. § 312(a)] as a means for having petitions denied on a basis unrelated to the merits presented in the petitions.” Thus, the decision may signal a relaxation of the hardline stance taken by many panels on real party in interest issues over the last year.
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