FOIA Reading Room
LOCATING FINAL BPAI AND TTAB DECISIONS VIA THE INTERNET
E-FOIA postings are typically retrievable via your favorite internet search engine. Most documents that the USPTO posts through e-FOIA are searchable text. Such searchable documents include the posted final decisions of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Redacted e-FOIA postings, such as decisions on practitioner discipline from which confidential information has been blocked, are generally not text searchable.
Retrieving Individual Decisions
TTAB and BPAI decisions can be retrieved by case number through a commercial database engine. To retrieve a known decision in the search engine's advanced search page, type http://www.uspto.gov in the domain field. Then type the proceeding number in the search query field. Please type the proceeding number in the following formats:
BPAI decisions
- for BPAI interferences, type: Patent Interference No. 102,345
- for BPAI ex parte appeal decisions, type: Appeal No. 1234-5678
TTAB decisions
- for TTAB oppositions, type: TTAB opposition No. 1234567
- for TTAB cancellations, type: TTAB cancellation No. 12345678
- for TTAB ex parte appeals, type: TTAB serial No. 12/234,567
Searching for Decisions That Use Specific Terms
The databases of TTAB and BPAI decisions are also word-searchable. Such searches will locate any decisions that contain particular text strings. To search the databases this way, follow the instructions above, but type the text string into the search query field, instead of a proceeding number.
