§325 Relation to Other Proceedings or Actions

Summary

Stops someone from using both a court case and a post‑grant review to attack the same patent claim in certain ways. If a person (or someone linked to them) already sued in court over a patent claim before filing a petition for post‑grant review, they cannot start that post‑grant review. If they file the court case after they file the petition, the court case is automatically put on hold until the patent owner asks the court to lift the hold, the patent owner sues or counterclaims for infringement, or the petitioner asks the court to dismiss the case. A counterclaim that argues the patent is invalid does not count as a separate civil action for these rules. If the patent owner sues for infringement within 3 months after the patent is granted, the court cannot delay deciding a preliminary injunction just because a post‑grant review was filed or started. The patent office director can join multiple petitions against the same patent into one review. During a post‑grant review, the patent office director may manage other office proceedings about that patent by staying, moving, combining, or ending them. The director may also refuse petitions if the same or basically the same prior art or arguments were already shown to the office. If the post‑grant review ends with a final written decision, the petitioner (or someone closely connected to them) cannot later ask the patent office or bring a federal patent lawsuit or an International Trade Commission matter to re‑raise any issues they raised or reasonably could have raised in that review. A post‑grant review cannot be started for a reissue patent claim that is the same or narrower than an original claim if the time limits would have already barred a petition for the original patent.