Inter partes review proceedings, or IPRs, and their related proceedings have become a fixture in modern patent disputes. These proceedings, implemented in 2012 after President Obama signed into law the America Invents Act (AIA), provided a new, cheaper, and faster means for challenging the validity of patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Patent challengers were offered a new mechanism for petitioning the USPTO's then newly-created Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), in an inter partes proceeding that also involves the patent owner.