Squires loosens grip on patent reviews, keeps control of initial screening
By Melissa Ritti ( November 11, 2026, 19:08 GMT | Comment) -- Administrative patent judges will soon regain their authority to decide which patent challenges are worthy of advancing to a determination of their merits, the US Patent and Trademark Office announced late Tuesday. Director John Squires is retaining control over non-merits discretionary denials of inter partes and post-grant reviews, while separate Patent Trial and Appeal Board panels will conduct any resulting trials.US Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires is returning merits-based decisions on whether to launch patent reviews to administrative patent judges (APJs), partially reversing his year-old centralization of that authority....
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