Another major proposal of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 relates to controversial recently issued patents.Since the number of patent applications per year has sharply risen, so too has the number of challenges against issued patents, which are mostly being settled in court.The Patent Reform Act hopes to remedy this often long and costly process by establishing post-grant review proceedings, whereby any opposition over a recently issued patent can be brought before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, potentially bypassing the involvement of courts.Any patent issued after the passing of the Patent Reform Act would be eligible for review under these new proceedings, as long as a challenge is officially filed within 12 months from the patent grant date or, under a different set of circumstances, if a challenger can provide “substantial reason” that the continuing existence of a patent “causes or is likely to cause” the challenging party “significant economic harm.”The Patent Reform Act would also create a new Patent Trial and Appeal Board to oversee and rule on each post-grant review proceeding.