The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s appeals board is projecting a 143 percent spike in patent appeals filings in the current fiscal year ending this month, but only a 42 percent increase in appeals board decisions.
The gap is expected to push case resolution time at the PTO’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to an average of eight months this year, up from 6.4 months in fiscal year 2008 and 5.4 months in fiscal year 2007.