Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit in patent cases. The court received a new petition raising questions related to Appointments Clause challenges with respect to Administrative Patent Judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Here are the details.
En Banc Petitions
New Petition
In Think Products, Inc. v. ACCO Brands Corp., Think Products, Inc. asked the en banc court to review the following questions:
- Whether “the ‘forfeiture’ rule announced in Customedia” is valid and whether “any forfeiture was possible before June 21, 2021.”
- Whether, “if no forfeiture of the right to challenge the Appointments Clause constitutional defect was possible prior to June 21, 2021, because no remedy existed, are prior PTAB decisions and appeals taken to, and decided by, this Court unconstitutionally rendered (and should be given no force or effect) and should therefore not be properly citable as precedent, whether for the purpose of stare decisis, res judicata or collateral estoppel, because such prior decisions were not ‘resolved in a valid court determination,’ New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 748-749 (2001)?”