PTAB Trends: The Most Experienced and Expensive Experts at the PTAB

When it comes to PTAB proceedings, who are the most experienced experts? And who are the most expensive?

This fall marks the tenth anniversary of post-grant proceedings at the PTAB, and some interesting trends have emerged regarding which technologies, firms, and expert witnesses have been most active when it comes to IPR, PGR, and CBM. This ongoing series examines these trends to help you grow your post-grant practice, hire the best experts, and optimize litigation at the PTAB. See the data in our on-demand webinar, and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter for the latest. 

The question of which expert is the right fit for a particular trial is what led us to build PTAB Expert Search. Putting that info in the hands of attorneys brings more transparency to litigation. Using that same database, we analyzed nearly 4,000 different experts appearing in PTAB proceedings between 2017-2021. This research was conducted in September 2022. 

Most Experienced Experts

Here, we name the top 10 most experienced experts at the PTAB, based on number of appearances. We made our best effort to exclude librarians or authenticators from the considered data and focus on independent expert witnesses. 

Similar to our previous analysis of top attorneys and firms, these are names we saw time and again in our data set. While it's not surprising to see these names on the list, it is interesting to dig deeper into the data and see which firms or assignees are hiring these experts on multiple occasions – something you can only do with PTAB Expert Search. Repeat hirings are likely an indication of satisfaction with their work.

Most Expensive Experts

These are the most expensive independent experts at the PTAB, based on the hourly rate listed in their declaration. Please note this is based on their highest fee recorded, not the most recent.

This data shows that many experts feel the hourly rate of $1,000 is the upper limit of what clients are willing to pay. 

It is also worth noting that the rates listed here are in U.S. dollars; thus, exchange rates may impact the data. For example, Jeremy Cooper is listed here with an hourly rate of $1,500 (USD), which, according to his declaration, was converted from pounds. Thus, that rate may vary based on the exchange rate at the time of their declaration. 

You can take a deeper look at this data in our on-demand webinar, What's Trending at the PTAB: The Top Firms, Companies, Experts and More.

One way to improve your PTAB litigation is to ditch the recruiter fees and identify expert witnesses independently based on data. An annual subscription to Juristat PTAB Expert Search is one-third the cost of recruiters and will both lower and fix costs associated with PTAB cases. Want to see our PTAB Expert Search in action? Schedule a demo.