Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. Currently, with respect to the Supreme Court’s October 2021 term, the Court has not granted any petitions in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. As for pending petitions, since our last update one new petition was filed in a patent case asking a question related to inter partes review, and the Court requested a response in another patent case involving inter partes review. Here are the details.
Granted Cases
With respect to the Supreme Court’s October 2021 term, the Court has not granted any petitions in cases decided by the Federal Circuit.
Petition Cases
New Petition
In Apple Inc. v. Optis Cellular Technology, LLC, the petitioner asked the Court to review the following question:
- “Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit may review, by appeal or mandamus, a decision of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office denying a petition for inter partes review of a patent, where review is sought on the grounds that the denial rested on an agency rule that exceeds the PTO’s authority under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, is arbitrary or capricious, or was adopted without required notice-and-comment rulemaking.”
Response Requested
In Ultratec, Inc. v. CaptionCall, LLC, the Court requested that the government respond to the petition, which raised a question related to whether retroactive application of the inter partes review process violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.