In this edition of The PTAB Review, we examine the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's (PTAB's) decision not to follow the remand instructions from the Federal Circuit in the MaxLinear, Inc. v. CF CRESPE LLC case. On remand in MaxLinear, the board undertook to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu, as opposed complying with the Federal Circuit's MaxLinear decision from three months prior. Black's Law Dictionary explains that, under the mandate rule, a lower court "must follow the decision that the appellate court has made in the case, unless new evidence or an intervening change in the law dictates a different result." We also examine the PTAB's designation of what is perhaps an unprecedented number of nine precedential decisions and three informative decisions in March and April 2019. The decisions touch on issues ranging from real parties-in-interest, rehearing requests, motions to amend, final oral hearings, same party joinder, discretionary denial of institution, and patent eligibility.

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