UPDATES

摘要

Affirming the decision of the Federal Circuit in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene's Energy Group, LLC, 639 Fed. Appx. 639 (Fed. Cir. 2016), certiorari granted in part, 137 S. Ct. 2239, 198 L. Ed. 2d 677 (2017) and judgment aff'd, 138 S. Ct. 1365, 126 U.S.P.Q.2d 1293 (2018), the United States Supreme Court has held that inter partes review, an administrative process which allows a third party to ask the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to reexamine the claims in an already-issued patent and to cancel any claim that the PTO finds to be unpatentable in limited circumstances, violates neither Article III nor the Seventh Amendment. See Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene's Energy Group, LLC, 138 S. Ct. 1365, 126 U.S.P.Q.2d 1293 (2018). Justice Breyer, joined by Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, filed a concurring opinion. Justice Gorsuch filed a dissenting opinion in which Chief Justice Roberts joined.