New PTAB Bar Association Launched

Knobbe Martens is pleased to be a founding member of the National Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Bar Association, which officially launched September 16. The firm joined with more than 45 firms to establish the new association, which seeks to preserve and promote the highest professional and ethical standards among lawyers and stakeholders who appear before the PTAB.

The PTAB Bar Association will provide a forum for communications between the legal community and PTAB officials and its Administrative Patent Judges, particularly to share best practices and stay abreast of the rule making, procedure, and jurisprudence emanating from the PTAB. Its creation marks the first time in more than 30 years that a national bar association with such significant scope has been formed.

In just five years, the PTAB has become the de facto venue for litigating the validity of patents. Through July 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reported that more than 5,000 AIA petitions had been filed at the PTAB, and roughly 6,000 practitioners have appeared at the PTAB, according to Docket Alarm.

Knobbe Martens’ rapidly growing PTAB practice has been ranked among the top 20 in the country for the number of PTAB trials it has handled; the firm has represented clients in more than 130 post-grant proceedings.

The Inaugural Annual Conference of the PTAB Bar Association will take place March 1-2, 2017 in Washington, D.C. For more information about its events and functions, please visit www.PTABBar.org.