The PTAB has issued a consolidated edition of the AIA Trial Practice Guide. The consolidated edition incorporates the updates released in August 2018 and July 2019 into the original August 2012 Practice Guide.
The Practice Guide provides guidance on typical procedures and timeframes in AIA trials and aims to bring greater procedural consistency among PTAB panels.
The Federal Register notice indicates that the consolidated Practice Guide includes no substantive changes from the prior updates or current Board practices. The topics of such prior updates include:
- Institution of trial after SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu, 138 S. Ct. 1348 (2018)
- Use of sur-replies in lieu of observations
- How parties may contact the Board to request an initial conference call
- Use of word counts
- Updates to the sample scheduling order for derivation proceedings
- Updates to the default protective order
The original August 2012 Practice Guide remains available from the USPTO.