{"id":280,"date":"2026-07-10T17:38:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:38:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:38:30","slug":"small-inventors-are-being-squeezed-by-a-convoluted-patent-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly a year after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposed reforms to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), patent-rights defenders are still waiting for the agency to act on changes they say are necessary to restore the patent-review system to its original purpose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more How Democratic Operatives Got a Copycat Candidate on the Alaska Senate Ballot to Confuse Voters<\/a><\/p>\n

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), commissioned and released in October 2025 by USPTO Director John Squires, addresses the ability of companies to repeatedly challenge the validity of the same patent through multiple proceedings before the PTAB while simultaneously challenging the patent in federal court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The NPRM asserts that this frequent duplicative litigation is costly, inefficient, and disproportionately beneficial to large corporations with extensive legal resources who can tangle smaller patent holders into multiple legal battles in order to override their patent and copy their invention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the notice, \u201capproximately 54% of all [PTAB] petitions filed since the passage of the AIA are one of multiple petitions against the same patent.\u201d Large technology companies, many members of the High Tech Inventors Alliance (<\/span>HTIA<\/span>), have consistently <\/span>filed the most petitions<\/span> in the PTAB since its inception. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The HTIA did not immediately respond to NRO\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The PTAB was created through the Obama-era America Invents Act <\/span>to handle patent-legitimacy cases more efficiently by using a lower evidentiary standard, \u201cpreponderance of evidence,\u201d to handle patent challenges instead of the \u201cclear and convincing\u201d bar used in district courts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But rather than replacing litigation, PTAB proceedings frequently occur alongside it. Under the status quo, district court cases challenging a patent\u2019s legitimacy can continue while PTAB reviews are pending. Challengers can pursue overlapping invalidity arguments in multiple forums instead of simplifying and reducing disputes, as was the original mandate of the board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a large company is free to copy a patented invention because it believes it can invalidate the patent through multiple validity challenges, the large company\u2019s other advantages, such as superior brand recognition and manufacturing scale, will often give it an edge over smaller competitors,\u201d according to the NPRM. \u201cThus, weakened patent rights can contribute to market concentration in innovative industries.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alleged Charlie Kirk Assassin\u2019s Trans Partner Told Investigators He Admitted Guilt, Expressed Regret After Shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

Wielding the PTAB as a market-domination tool is the concern of many patent-rights advocates, says James Edwards, the executive director of a 30-group coalition called Conservatives for Property Rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhat these big companies are doing is keeping the small patent owner from being able to do much on its own. They can\u2019t continue with developing the product, developing the market, finding legitimate partners to help commercialize,\u201d he says. \u201cThose sorts of things aren\u2019t happening because they\u2019ve got limited resources, much more limited resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposed regulation would strengthen the PTAB\u2019s authority to decline petitions when overlapping challenges occur. Petitioners would be required to file a stipulation ensuring that they or any interested party would not pursue a concurrent patent challenge in another court or proceeding. Additionally, the Board cannot institute or continue a review on a claim if that same claim (or a broader claim it depends on) has already been upheld as valid in adjacent courts, or if it is more likely than not that the patent\u2019s validity will be upheld by the time of trial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this new rule essentially says to petitioners is \u2018Okay, you\u2019ve had your one bite at the apple,\u2019 which the AIA supposedly was going to give people,\u201d says Edwards. \u201cIt\u2019s going to give you your shot to make your claims about why this is an invalid patent. And then, if you win, you win, if you lose, you lose, but you don\u2019t get to keep coming back.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If finalized, the proposal would represent one of the most significant changes to PTAB practice since its inception. Yet despite the proposal\u2019s potential impact, the rulemaking process has shown little visible progress since its publication, raising questions about when or whether the reforms will take effect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House and the USPTO did not immediately respond to request for comment regarding the status of the rule.<\/p>\n

Read more How Did a Former Elizabeth Warren Volunteer End Up Attending the Ayatollah\u2019s Funeral?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Small inventors and patent-rights advocates say proposed reforms to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board would curb repetitive patent challenges that benefit large corporations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSmall Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process - American Housing Transition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process - American Housing Transition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Small inventors and patent-rights advocates say proposed reforms to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board would curb repetitive patent challenges that benefit large corporations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Housing Transition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T17:38:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff\"},\"headline\":\"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T17:38:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280\"},\"wordCount\":727,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280\",\"name\":\"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process - American Housing Transition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T17:38:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp\",\"width\":2057,\"height\":1200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=280#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Housing Transition\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process - American Housing Transition","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process - American Housing Transition","og_description":"Small inventors and patent-rights advocates say proposed reforms to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board would curb repetitive patent challenges that benefit large corporations.","og_url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280","og_site_name":"American Housing Transition","article_published_time":"2026-07-10T17:38:30+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff"},"headline":"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process","datePublished":"2026-07-10T17:38:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280"},"wordCount":727,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280","url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280","name":"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process - American Housing Transition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-10T17:38:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dc20d23c88c4729ae3b6159be44c4ff2.webp","width":2057,"height":1200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=280#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Small Inventors Are Being Squeezed by a Convoluted Patent Process"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/","name":"American Housing Transition","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}