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Pending Supreme Court Decisions

An updated discussion of this issue is available here: The Supreme Court Finds IPR Proceedings Constitutional

The Supreme Court will decide during its October 2017 term “Whether inter partes review—an adversarial process used by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to analyze the validity of existing patents—violates the Constitution by extinguishing private property rights through a non-Article III forum without a jury.” Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Green’s Energy Group, LLC, Sup. Ct. Dkt. 16-712.  Read more.

The Supreme Court also will decide during its October 2017 term whether the PTAB must issue a final written decision as to every patent claim challenged by a petitioner.  SAS Institute, Inc. v. Matal, Sup. Ct. Dkt. 16-969.  Read more.

On November 27, 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in these two cases.  A transcript of the argument in the Oil States case is available at this link, and a transcript of the oral argument in the SAS Institute case is available at this link.

Decisions in both cases can be expected in the spring of 2018.

Resources & Info

Arthrex and the Supreme Court Resource Center

In United States v. Arthrex, Inc., the Supreme Court has heard whether 125+ PTAB decisions rendered through October 2019 must be remanded for new decisions. Read about how that issue developed through our post.

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Our Team

PTABWatch, provided by Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP, analyzes and reports recent developments concerning Post-Grant Proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), including Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post Grant Review (PGR), and Covered Business Method (CBM) proceedings.