PTAB allows online nominations of “precedential” and/or “informative” opinions

Thinking about nominating a prior PTAB opinion as precedential or informative? Well, there is now a link for that: https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/patent-trial-and-appeal-board/ptab-decision-nomination.  The PTAB is now taking online nominations from the public.  And the nomination process is as easy as filling out the case number/name and a brief reason for the nomination (limited to 750 characters).  Providing a name & email address is optional. 

Precedential opinions “establish binding authority concerning major policy or procedural issues, or other issues of exceptional importance, including constitutional questions, important issues regarding statutes, rules, and regulations, important issues regarding case law, or issues of broad applicability to the Board.”  Informative decisions “provide Board norms on recurring issues, guidance on issues of first impression to the Board, guidance on Board rules and practices, and guidance on issues that may develop through analysis of recurring issues in many cases”. 

It appears that there have only been seven opinions nominated as precedential in 2020, and about twice that number as informative. It will be interesting to see if those numbers rise now that the process has gotten easier. 

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