Sept. 16 marked the second anniversary of the America Invents Act, and completed the first year of inter partes reviews. The 486 petitions filed during this the first year indicate that inter partes review (IPR) has been accepted by the patent community as a suitable substitute for inter partes re-examination. But for the bump in filings of inter partes re-examinations before they were phased out at the end 2012, spurred by the uncertainty over the new procedures and their higher cost, IPRs continued the upward trend of the inter partes re-examinations they replaced.

More significantly, the rate of filings of IPRs continues to increase. While 26 IPR petitions were filed in the first month, 66 IPR petitions were filed in the most recent month. As patent challengers become more familiar with the procedure, they are increasingly using IPRs to challenge patents.

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