Chief Patent Office Judge Moves to Reexamination Unit in Shakeup

Aug. 28, 2025, 10:22 PM UTC

The head of a US Patent and Trademark Office administrative tribunal is moving to a business unit that reexamines granted patent applications.

Patent Trial and Appeal Board Chief Judge Scott R. Boalick and Vice Chief Judge Mike Tierney will take over the agency’s Central Reexamination Unit, the acting PTO Director Coke Stewart said in a Thursday email to PTAB judges reviewed by Bloomberg Law. Stewart said the switch-up responds to an “immediate need for executive reassignments in order to ensure leadership of two critical agency functions” following the departure of two employees leading the CRU.

Stewart named Kal Deshpande, another ...

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