Available Equipment
Alexandria: At the Alexandria hearing rooms, the Board has an easel, an Elmo projector, a laptop projector, and a screen, which may be requested for oral arguments. For Microsoft PowerPoint and other computer-based presentations, the party must provide its own laptop. Animation and video demonstratives cannot be presented at a hearing without specific prior authorization. The hearing rooms do not have Internet access capabilities - all information must be stored on the party's laptop (e.g., a hard drive, flash drive, or CD).
Satellite Locations: If a party plans to appear from a hearing room in a satellite USPTO location, please contact the Hearings Clerk for any questions about available equipment.
Appeals
For appeals, the party must request the equipment for demonstratives in writing at least three days in advance of the scheduled hearing, so it can be set up prior to the hearing. The judges have access to the complete record. No new information may be presented at oral argument as the parties generally may rely only on evidence that has been previously entered into the record. See, e.g., 37 CFR § 41.47(e)(1), (2).
For inter partes reexamination appeals, the parties are encouraged to exchange demonstratives prior to the scheduled hearing in order to ensure the hearing proceeds in an efficient manner.
The party may send the request by facsimile transmission to the attention of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board Hearings Clerk at both:
- the USPTO Central Fax number, (571) 273-8300, and
- the PTAB Hearing Fax number, (571) 273-9797.
Unless notified to the contrary, the party should presume that the panel does not want hard copies of the demonstratives or any other material.
AIA Trials
For AIA trials, unless otherwise directed, demonstrative exhibits must be served on opposing counsel at least five business days before the oral argument and a copy served electronically at the Board no later than the time of the oral argument. 37 CFR § 42.70(b).
Use of Demonstratives
Parties are advised to bear in mind that some judges may appear remotely from other locations. It is incumbent on the parties to ensure that any demonstratives used during an oral hearing are visible and available to all judges on the panel. For example, demonstrative exhibits displayed on an easel or via a projector may not be able to be seen by judges participating remotely. Those remote judges will refer to the electronic copy of the demonstrative exhibit provided by the party in advance or to a copy of the relevant document as it appears in the record. As such, parties should also clearly identify during the oral hearing any demonstrative exhibit to which they are referring to enable all judges participating in the hearing to follow along with the argument being presented.