Lead Judge Michael Tierney was appointed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (Board) in July 2000. Lead Judge Tierney manages the Trial Section, which oversees America Invents Act (AIA) administrative trials including inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews, and covered business method reviews, as well as reexamination appeals and interferences.
For the implementation of the AIA, Lead Judge Tierney led the Board's comprehensive effort on the trial rulemakings. Judge Tierney worked closely with USPTO executive officials, trial judges, the patent community and other members of the public to develop the trial rules. Judge Tierney has given numerous presentations that educate the patent community on the statutory provisions, proposed rules, and final rules for the AIA administrative trials.
Judge Tierney received both a J.D. and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is a member of the Washington State and the District of Columbia bars.
Prior to joining the Board, Judge Tierney was a senior patent associate in private practice, and he has also worked as a patent examiner in the chemical arts.