Nearly a year ago, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposed reforms to curb repeat challenges to patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, or PTAB — the panel within the USPTO responsible for determining whether issued patents should stand.

The public comment period has ended, yet the rule remains unfinished, leaving inventors unsure whether the patents they have earned will be secure enough to attract investment, license technology and build businesses.

The USPTO’s own proposal found that roughly 54 percent of PTAB petitions filed were one of multiple petitions against the same patent. Too many patent owners have faced a process in which a challenger can keep coming back with another petition, another theory, another chance to wear down the person or business that created something of value.

Created by the America Invents Act of 2011, the PTAB was meant to give questionable patents a fair review. Patents that should not have been issued deserve a fair challenge. But repeat challenges have become a punishing burden for independent inventors, family businesses, and university researchers trying to move a product from the workbench to the marketplace.

The proposed rule would focus PTAB review on patent claims........

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