Recently introduced legislation, the “Restoring the America Invents Act (RAIA),” if enacted, would push the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to grant more requests to institute administrative patent trials. Not only would the RAIA prohibit the PTAB from deferring to federal courts when there is an imminent district court trial that would resolve the issues, it would encourage federal courts not to move forward with trials. This would reduce the power of the federal district courts and elevate the PTAB over presidentially-appointed federal judges.
