USPTO Spurns Reexam Bid For Reusing Failed IPR Theories - Law360
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When a legal challenger recycles already-rejected arguments, the USPTO's rebuke is a textbook case of issue preclusion — and a warning about the limits of procedural gamesmanship.
Issue PreclusionProcedural GamesmanshipRes JudicataPrincipal-Agent Problem
Theory Briefing
- The USPTO rejected a reexamination request that simply repackaged theories already defeated in an inter partes review, a rare procedural shutdown.
- Issue preclusion doctrine bars parties from relitigating settled questions — the USPTO applied that logic to block a second bite at the apple.
- The ruling signals that patent challengers cannot use parallel review tracks as an endless retry mechanism when IPR arguments have already failed.