By petition, the Office instituted 55% of bio/pharma inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews it decided in Fiscal Year 2026 (39 of 71), against 36% in electrical and computer technologies (212 of 586). The bio/pharma base is small, so a few decisions move its rate.
Before you read
In FY2026, which technology area had the higher institution rate by petition?
Bio/pharma: 55% (39 of 71) against 36% (212 of 586) for electrical/computer.
Part 1 of 3
The USPTO’s FY2026 statistics break institution down by technology. The rate is petitions instituted divided by petitions decided, instituted plus denied.
FY2026: October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026. Other technology areas are on the same slide and not shown here.
Source
Part 2 of 3
Seventy-one bio/pharma decisions is a small number. Each one is worth about 1.4 points of that rate, so three decisions going the other way would move it about four points. The electrical/computer rate rests on 586 decisions and is much steadier.
71 decisions on institution · 39 instituted · 32 denied
Part 3 of 3
The takeaway
Read a technology rate with its base. Seventy-one decisions is a small sample.
Precedential decisions bind the Board within their designated scope. Informative decisions show the Office’s reasoning but do not bind the Board. Court opinions are cited for what they decided; later history was checked on the date shown above.