The Board was kicking around the idea of single-judge institution decisions for most of my tenure there. But now they’ve formally requested comments on a proposed pilot program for single-judge institution decisions (deadline recently extended to October 26, 2015). There’s ample precedent for this from the interference practice, where single-judge declarations of interference have been the norm for decades.
The rationale for introducing single-judge orders is simple: conserving judicial resources. … More
There has been much discussion about whether Patent Owners should have the right to submit new testimonial evidence with the preliminary response. The patent office has