When the America Invents Act (AIA) was passed into law in 2011, it was generally understood that the new post-issuance proceedings created by the law—Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post-Grant Review (PGR), and Covered Business Method Review (CBM)—would change the landscape of patent ownership and assertion.

But the creation of these proceedings has had perhaps an even more dramatic effect than expected.

As reported by Docket Navigator, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the USPTO has quickly become one of the three most popular “venues” for patent litigation in the United States, trailing only the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware in number of new cases filed in 2013.

Given the large number of post-issuance proceedings now being handled by the PTAB, seemingly every day brings the release of decisions and rulings that shed new light on how the PTAB is applying and interpreting both the substantive law and the relevant procedural rules that apply to these proceedings.

Keeping up with these decisions can inevitably be a challenge for both patent owners and those challenging the validity of patents, not to mention the legal practitioners representing those parties. To that end, Norton Rose Fulbright is proud to announce the launch of Patent Challenges, a new blog focused on post-issuance proceedings at the PTAB.

We hope that you will check back often for reports, updates, commentary, and insight on new decisions and other happenings related to patent challenges at the PTAB.