Ongoing uncertainty surrounding the PTAB’s NHK-Fintiv rule seems to have kept the number of ex parte reexamination requests near their 2021 peak. That rule allows the PTAB to exercise discretion to refuse to institute trial in response to a petition for inter partes review (IPR) due to the status of parallel litigation. This uncertainty pushed district court defendants toward ex parte reexaminations, which are not subject to such discretionary denials to the same extent as America Invents Act (AIA) reviews.