The deputy clerk, located in Alexandria, Virginia, schedules all hearings held before the PTAB. Hearings are held at the PTAB Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. with morning and afternoon sessions in all USPTO offices. The expansion of the USPTO regional offices now allows the scheduling of oral hearings across the United States. These regional facilities directly support the PTAB’s mission.
Ex parte hearings at the PTAB begin at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., and reexamination hearings begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. AIA trials are given designated begin and end times in the Order issued by the adjudicating panel. Typically, they are scheduled to begin between the hours of 9 and 10 a.m. and 1 and 2 p.m. All times refer to the locations and time zones in which they are scheduled.
There are three hearing rooms used by the PTAB in Alexandria, Virginia: Hearing rooms A, B, and D. A morning and an afternoon hearing session is generally scheduled in each hearing room. Each regional office has one hearing room. Hearing sessions in the regional offices may be scheduled in the morning or afternoon. The deputy clerk makes every effort to schedule hearings in all regional office locations. However, as not all regional offices have APJs that represent every technology field, the unavailability of a panel member to physically appear within a regional location may prohibit scheduling a particular hearing in that specific location.
In ex parte appeals, every attempt is made to set an oral hearing date that coincides with the average pendency of on-brief cases. However, some considerations that exist in heard cases (such as paneling and resources) may result in the pendency of heard cases being longer than the average onbrief ex parte pendency. AIA trials are scheduled based on statutory requirements that mandate a specific timeline.
Hearing rooms are reserved by the panels up to a year in advance. Therefore, ex parte appeals are scheduled based on hearing room availability. Once a hearing schedule is completed for the month, it is circulated to the judges for approval. Monthly hearing schedules are completed and uploaded to the webpage in advance.
The current schedule for hearings is located on the PTAB webpage.