Since the passage of the America Invents Act, inter partes review, or IPR, and post-grant review, or PGR, have been favored over ex parte reexamination to challenge a patent’s validity at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Recently, however, the popularity of ex parte reexamination has increased. This article provides an overview of ex parte reexamination and statistics related to the renewed interest in ex parte reexamination. Further, considerations for the use of ex parte reexamination by third-party requestors are discussed.