Program Committee Hosts "Recent Pronouncements from the USPTO" Webinar - November 10, 2025

On November 10, 2025, the Program Committee hosted a webinar, “Recent Pronouncements from the USPTO:  A Seismic Shift in PTAB Practice?” addressing the recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (90 Fed. Reg. 48335), and Open Letter and Memorandum to PTAB Judges issued by the USPTO Director.  These two announcements have significant ramifications for PTAB practitioners, patent challengers, patent owners, and PTAB judges.  The panel discussed these changes, what effects these changes are likely to have not only on PTAB practice, but patent litigation and assertion generally, and ideas for navigating this new landscape both for counsel and clients.   Panelists included Molly Kocialski, Counsel at Holland & Hart and former director of the USPTO Rocky Mountain Regional Office; Melissa Haapala, Counsel at Sterne Kessler and former Administrative Patent Judge and Vice Chief of Patent Trial and Appeal Board; Buddy Toliver, Associate General Counsel and Director at Cisco Systems, Inc.; and Tom Scott, General Counsel at Personalized Media Communications, Inc. This webinar was moderated by Joel Sayres, Partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath.

About the PTAB Bar Association
The PTAB Bar Association is a voluntary bar association of over 700 members, most of whom are in private and corporate practice. Members represent a broad spectrum of individuals, companies, and institutions involved in practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and in patent, administrative, and appellate law more generally.  The Association is dedicated to helping secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of every PTAB proceeding, and serves as an avenue for constructive dialogue between the bar community, the PTAB, and other stakeholders.