Deciding whether to appeal a patent rejection

The Patent Office has released a table of results of appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) for FY 2004. As you can see, less than half of appeals that reach the BPAI are completely successful. However, this table misses a large number of cases that are appealed, but favorably resolved by the Examiner prior to disposition by the Board.

Disposition

% Decisions Fiscal Year to Date

AFFIRMED

36.0%

AFFIRMED-IN-PART

10.9%

REVERSED

38.0%

PANEL REMANDS

8.0%

ADMINISTRATIVE REMANDS

4.9%

DISMISSED

2.2%

TOTAL

100.0%