What I write below was substantially sourced from https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/tpgnov.pdf, and if you read it you can form your own idea of how long the matter will take, which should be less than 13 moths, and much quicker if Eagleview sees the light, and settles this bullshit.
Proceedings begin with the filing of a petition to institute a trial. If the petition is not rejected upfront, I think an inter partes review (IPR) is “instituted” by the Review Board. Patent holders usually respond within a month, but they have three months to respond. The Scheduling Order is raised as soon as possible, usually when the IPR is instituted. It may provide the patent holder another three months for discovery and response. Scheduling Orders set due dates for trials, taking into account the complexity of the proceeding, but ensuring that the trial is completed within one year of “institution”. I imagine that this particular process should take about ten months.
The Patent and Trademarks Review Board has the right to deny an IPR, and because of limited resources, it is quick to do so if it thinks all the patents involved in the IPR are unlikely to be successfull. This suggests that NEA should only apply for an IPR covering patents that NEA has strong grounds to contest. NEA can later apply for an IPR on the remaining patents for which it has reasonable, but not strong, grounds for contesting.
The time could be reduced if the patents listed for review have cogently argued grounds to be granted a review. “Prior art” if well evidenced is likely to succeed. Grounds for “obviousness” are more subjective, so they require greater articulation skill then “prior knowledge” grounds, IMO. In my many dealings with lawyers, I learned never to argue with them, their egos are too delicate, but do the thinking and put it in carefully crafted written words as facts (not argument or advice) that incline them and other readers to adopt the words as their own sensible thoughts.
I should not invest so much time on this litigation, because it is not critical for NEA as a business, but I am retired and in need of something to soak up my idle hours.
