What It Means When the PTAB Calls a Decision "Informative"

Every Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision starts out as routine: binding in the case where it is made, and not otherwise. A few are designated. A precedential decision is binding Board authority in later matters involving similar facts or issues. An informative decision is not binding authority, but it sets out Board norms that should be followed in most cases, absent justification. On August 25, 2026, the USPTO announced that it had designated Ex parte Chowdhury, Appeal 2025-002261 (PTAB Feb. 5, 2026), as informative, and how the decision got there is worth knowing too.

The decision, briefly

Chowdhury is about Markush claims, which recite a group of alternatives ("selected from the group consisting of A, B, and C"). The examiner rejected the claims for reciting improper Markush groupings, and the Board reversed. As the USPTO describes it, the decision holds that a Markush grouping is proper if it recites members of a subgenus and the specification describes those members as performing similar functions in the context of the invention. Applicants who claim alternatives this way can cite it when an examiner raises the same rejection.

What the label signals

Under the Board's Standard Operating Procedure 2, an informative decision provides Board norms on recurring issues, guidance on issues of first impression, and guidance on Board rules and practices. It does not bind the Board, but its norms should be followed in most cases, absent justification. That makes it a stronger citation than a routine decision, which binds only the case in which it was made.

Anyone can nominate a decision

The USPTO said Chowdhury was nominated for designation by a stakeholder. Under Standard Operating Procedure 2, any person, including members of the public, may nominate a routine Board decision for designation as precedential or informative. The USPTO takes nominations through an online form with a brief statement of reasons, and the form can be submitted anonymously. If a Board decision resolves an issue you keep raising with examiners, you can nominate it yourself.