Discretionary Decision Statistics Update, PTAB Litigation Blog
Visit the PTAB Litigation Blog
The October 17 Memo from Director Squires marked the end of a distinct discretionary denial era, the Interim Era. Per the memo, as of October 20, all institution decisions (discretionary, non-discretionary, and merits-based) will be made by the Director in consultation with three PTAB judges. See our post here. There will no longer be separate discretionary and non-discretionary/merits-based decisions in each case; one institutional decision will be released per case deciding on all potential grounds for institution. Moreover, Vice Chief APJ Michael Kim explained that “summary notices will be the primary vehicle for the vast majority of cases” under the new regime. See our post here. Summary notices are simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down decisions on institution that contain no reasoning or analysis, which do not specify whether institution was denied based on discretionary factors or the merits.
