PTAB destroys innovation – new additions are insufficient
Morinville and Metz 24 [Paul Morinville is the Founder and former President of US Inventor, Inc., which is an inventor organization in Washington D.C. that advocates strong patent protection for inventors and startups. Molly Metz is the innovator of JumpNRope and was granted two patents for her innovations, and is an active writer for IPWatchDog. “Hopelessly inexperienced PTAB judges are destroying US innovation” Innovation Gadfly; February 19, 2024; https://innovationgadfly.com/hopelessly-inexperienced-ptab-judges-are-destroying-u-s-innovation/] ARL
In December 2023, the Senate IP Subcommittee held a hearing on the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act, S.2220 (PREVAIL), which affects the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
The PTAB is an appalling failure, invalidating 84% of the patents it fully adjudicates, thereby unleashing massive predatory infringement of small entity patents by huge corporations. The PTAB is a primary reason that Big Tech was able to monopolize, and China now leads the U.S. in 37 of 44 technologies critical to our economic growth and national security.
Joe Matal, the Senate staffer who pushed through the America Invents Act, thus creating the PTAB, testified under oath that the PTAB delivers U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) agency expertise in evaluating the validity of patents and that agency expertise is not possible in federal courts.
The USPTO certainly has significant agency expertise in its examination corps. Joe Kiani, CEO of Masimo, testified that the examiner who examined and allowed his patents had more than 30 years of experience in pulse oximetry, the technology of his invention. Kiani, like most inventors, was impressed with the USPTO’s agency expertise.
Despite the crippling effects of the PTAB on U.S. innovation, Matal remains its cheerleader. His catchphrase, agency expertise, is a misattribution of USPTO examiner corps expertise to the PTAB.