In 2012, Congress established certain processes in the Patent Office under which a third party could challenge the validity of issued patents. One of these processes, known as inter partes review (IPR), has been widely used. IPRs are typically filed by the defendant/accused infringer in a concurrently pending federal patent infringement case. Because the IPR can result in the targeted patent claims being cancelled, there is the possibility that the concurrently pending federal litigation will be resolved (either through judgment or settlement). According to the USPTO's statistics, over 11,000 petitions for IPR have been filed since enactment in 2012.