By Nick Robertson ( July 30, 2026, 21:21 GMT | Comment) -- USPTO Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart, who is leaving the office this week, leveraged her role as acting director last year to initiate significant changes to inter partes review, including rescinding the 2022 Fintiv guidance, bifurcating the IPR institution process and implementing new discretionary denial factors such as settled expectations.Her reforms to the IPR review process have continued under Director John Squires, and fundamentally shifted the strategy of patent practitioners.As she exits the US Patent and Trademark Office this week, Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart leaves behind the legacy of an unusually influential acting leader, initiating substantial reforms in her eight months atop the agency....
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