37 CFR § 42.2 - Definitions.
---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t37/s42.2"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "37 CFR § 42.2 - Definitions."
title_number: 37
title_name: "Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights"
section_number: "42.2"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE"
subchapter_number: "A"
subchapter_name: "GENERAL"
part_number: "42"
part_name: "TRIAL PRACTICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2), 3, 6, 21, 23, 41, 134, 135, 143, 153, 311, 312, 314, 316, 318, 321-326, 328; Pub. L. 112-29, 125 Stat. 284; and Pub. L. 112-274, 126 Stat. 2456."
regulatory_source: "77 FR 48669, Aug. 14, 2012, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "42"
---
# 42.2 Definitions.
The following definitions apply to this part:
*Affidavit* means affidavit or declaration under § 1.68 of this chapter. A transcript of an *ex parte* deposition or a declaration under 28 U.S.C. 1746 may be used as an affidavit.
*Board* means the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Board means a panel of the Board, or a member or employee acting with the authority of the Board, including:
(1) For petition decisions and interlocutory decisions, a Board member or employee acting with the authority of the Board.
(2) For final written decisions under 35 U.S.C. 135(d), 318(a), and 328(a), a panel of the Board.
*Business day* means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia.
*Confidential information* means trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information.
*Final* means final for the purpose of judicial review to the extent available. A decision is final only if it disposes of all necessary issues with regard to the party seeking judicial review, and does not indicate that further action is required.
*Hearing* means consideration of the trial.
*Involved* means an application, patent, or claim that is the subject of the proceeding.
*Judgment* means a final written decision by the Board, or a termination of a proceeding.
*Motion* means a request for relief other than by petition.
*Office* means the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
*Panel* means at least three members of the Board.
*Party* means at least the petitioner and the patent owner and, in a derivation proceeding, any applicant or assignee of the involved application.
*Petition* is a request that a trial be instituted.
*Petitioner* means the party filing a petition requesting that a trial be instituted.
*Preliminary Proceeding* begins with the filing of a petition for instituting a trial and ends with a written decision as to whether a trial will be instituted.
*Proceeding* means a trial or preliminary proceeding.
*Rehearing* means reconsideration.
*Trial* means a contested case instituted by the Board based upon a petition. A trial begins with a written decision notifying the petitioner and patent owner of the institution of the trial. The term trial specifically includes a derivation proceeding under 35 U.S.C. 135; an *inter partes* review under Chapter 31 of title 35, United States Code; a post-grant review under Chapter 32 of title 35, United States Code; and a transitional business-method review under section 18 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Patent interferences are administered under part 41 and not under part 42 of this title, and therefore are not trials.