§318 Decision of the Board

Summary

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board must issue a final decision in writing about whether the patent claims a challenger attacked, and any new claims added during the review, are patentable. After the time to appeal ends or any appeal finishes, the Director must publish a certificate that cancels claims found unpatentable, confirms claims found patentable, and puts any new or changed claims that are patentable into the patent. Any new or changed claim added this way gives the same legal protections to people who made, bought, used, or imported the covered item, or who prepared to do so before the certificate was issued, as the rules for reissued patents in section 252. The Patent Office must also publish data showing how long each review took from start to the Board’s final decision.