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`District Court Trial Dates Tend to Slip After PTAB Discretionary Denials | Patents Post-Grant
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`By Scott McKeown on July 24, 2020
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`The practice of denying AIA trial petitions in view of competing district court trial dates has brought some negative attention to the
`Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) over the past few months. At the same time, patent litigation has increased over the first
`two quarters of the year by 20%. This surge has been greatly aided by the exploding popularity of the Western District of Texas
`(WDTX) with non-practicing entities — a district that the PTAB is increasingly deferring to in its discretionary denials based upon
`competing trial dates.
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`https://www.patentspostgrant.com/district-court-trial-dates-tend-to-slip-after-ptab-discretionary-denials/
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`Patents Post-Grant
`Patents Post-Grant
`Inside Views & News Pertaining to the Nation's Busiest Patent Court
`Inside Views & News Pertaining to the Nation's Busiest Patent Court
`District Court Trial Dates Tend to Slip After PTAB Discretionary
`Denials
`Delaware Cases Slipping 4-6 Months
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`District Court Trial Dates Tend to Slip After PTAB Discretionary Denials | Patents Post-Grant
`11/25/2020
`While Patent Owners are quick to point to a looming district court trial date as being set in stone, in reality, these dates are o en reset once the PTAB
`hurdle is cleared.
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`While still a small data set, cases that are denied by the PTAB based upon a looming trial date have seen significant delays in some districts.
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`For example, in the patent suit heavy District of Delaware, 100% of the cases denied by the PTAB for an earlier trial date have been rescheduled —
`anywhere from 4-6 months. This is a significant delay that may militate in favor of institution given the relative speed of an 8-month PTAB trial
`schedule:
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`In the WDTX, 70% of trial dates initially relied upon by the PTAB to deny petitions have slid. While WDTX shows a lower average delay, this is likely a
`due to that court’s preference to push out dates on a recurring basis rather than more significant schedule remodels.
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`Taking all districts into account the average trial delay is 3 months, with a maximum of 7 months. That said, with COVID-19 delaying trials scheduled
`for the last 4-5 months, delays will certainly increase further as the courts work through their growing backlog.
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`In the meantime, as one PTAB panel explained it, the PTAB has been firing on all cylinders.
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`Copyright © 2020, Ropes & Gray LLP. All Rights Reserved.
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`https://www.patentspostgrant.com/district-court-trial-dates-tend-to-slip-after-ptab-discretionary-denials/
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`Patents Post-Grant
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