35 U.S.C. 321 — Post-grant review
Statute text
Copy text35 U.S.C. · MPEP Appendix L (Revision 01.2024)
35 U.S.C. 321 — Post-grant review.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the provisions of this chapter, a person who is not the owner of a patent may file with the Office a petition to institute a post-grant review of the patent. The Director shall establish, by regulation, fees to be paid by the person requesting the review, in such amounts as the Director determines to be reasonable, considering the aggregate costs of the post-grant review.
(b) SCOPE.—A petitioner in a post-grant review may request to cancel as unpatentable 1 or more claims of a patent on any ground that could be raised under paragraph (2) or (3) of section 282(b) (relating to invalidity of the patent or any claim).
(c) FILING DEADLINE.—A petition for a post-grant review may only be filed not later than the date that is 9 months after the date of the grant of the patent or of the issuance of a reissue patent (as the case may be).
(Added Sept. 16, 2011, Public Law 112-29, sec. 6(d) (effective Sept. 16, 2012), 125 Stat. 284.)
(Public Law 112-29, sec. 18, 125 Stat. 284 (Sept. 16, 2011) provided a transitional program for covered business method patents (see AIA § 18 ).)
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Prior version
35 U.S.C. 321 (note) Post-grant review applicability.
(A) The post-grant review provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) apply only to patents subject to the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA (see 35 U.S.C. 100 (note) ), except as provided in AIA § 18 and paragraph 2 below.
(B) LIMITATION.—The Director may impose a limit on the number of post-grant reviews that may be instituted under chapter 32 of title 35, United States Code, during each of the first 4 1-year periods in which the these provisions are in effect.
(i) is to be dismissed without prejudice to the filing of a petition for a post-grant review under chapter 32 of title 35, United States Code; or
(ii) is to proceed as if the AIA had not been enacted.
(B) PROCEEDINGS BY PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD.—For purposes of an interference that is commenced before the effective date set forth in paragraph (2)(A), the Director may deem the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to be the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, and may allow the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to conduct any further proceedings in that interference.
(C) APPEALS.—The authorization to appeal or have remedy from derivation proceedings in sections 141(d) and 146 of title 35, United States Code, as amended by this Act, and the jurisdiction to entertain appeals from derivation proceedings in section 1295(a)(4)(A) of title 28, United States Code, as amended by this Act, shall be deemed to extend to any final decision in an interference that is commenced before the effective date set forth in paragraph (2)(A) of this subsection and that is not dismissed pursuant to this paragraph.
(Sept. 16, 2011, Public Law 112-29, sec. 6(f), 125 Stat. 284.)
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Cited by the manual
0 sectionsNo structured MPEP section cites this authority yet (coverage is partial — see the section index).