New rules requiring most Patent Trial and Appeal Board hearings and trials to occur in-person could discourage patent applicants from appealing their rejections, but it may make PTAB’s longer, adversarial trial proceedings more robust, McGuireWoods partner Amanda Wieker wrote in an Aug. 19, 2025, column published by Law360.
Wieker — a PTAB judge for nearly 10 years before joining McGuireWoods in 2024 — noted that hearings on ex parte appeals of a patent examiner’s rejection of patent claims are limited to 20 minutes. By forcing patent applicants challenging their rejections to appear in one of five U.S. Patent and Trademark Office locations around the country “to conduct these short hearings, the PTAB may drive down the number of ex parte appeal hearing requests,” she wrote.
However, Wieker recalled that other matters ordered to be heard in person by the new rule — trials brought under the American Invents Act — were “more effective in-person, almost without exception,” when she was a judge. AIA hearings last at least two hours, sometimes and often much longer, and the ability to read body language and hear discussions without audio delays made for more robust question-and-answer sessions than online proceedings, she added.
“This return to in-person hearings will require some adjustment and, undoubtedly, will leave some parties dissatisfied,” Wieker concluded. “Nonetheless, having worked closely with PTAB’s talented judges, I am confident their excellent work will continue, wherever they are located.”