United States v. Arthrex, Inc.

 
DOCKET NO.
OP. BELOW
SUBJECT
Patent
AUTHOR
Roberts

Question(s) Presented

1. “Whether, for purposes of the Appointments Clause, U.S. Const. Art. II, § 2, Cl. 2, administrative patent judges of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are principal officers who must be appointed by the President with the Senate’s advice and consent, or ‘inferior Officers’ whose appointment Congress has permissibly vested in a department head.”

2. “Whether, if administrative patent judges are principal officers, the court of appeals properly cured any Appointments Clause defect in the current statutory scheme prospectively by severing the application of 5 U.S.C. § 7513(a) to those judges.”

Holding

1. “We hold that the unreviewable authority wielded by APJs during inter partes review is incompatible with their appointment by the Secretary to an inferior office. The principal dissent repeatedly charges that we never say whether APJs are principal officers who were not appointed in the manner required by the Appointments Clause, or instead inferior officers exceeding the permissible scope of their duties under that Clause. But both formulations describe the same constitutional violation: Only an officer properly appointed to a principal office may issue a final decision binding the Executive Branch in the proceeding before us.”

2. “We conclude that a tailored approach is the appropriate one: Section 6(c) [of Title 35] cannot constitutionally be enforced to the extent that its requirements prevent the Director from reviewing final decisions rendered by APJs. Because Congress has vested the Director with the ‘power and duties’ of the PTO, § 3(a)(1), the Director has the authority to provide for a means of reviewing PTAB decisions. See also §§ 3(a)(2)(A), 316(a)(4). The Director accordingly may review final PTAB decisions and, upon review, may issue decisions himself on behalf of the Board.”

 

Date
Proceedings and Orders
July 20, 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Respondents, Smith & Nephew, Inc., et al.VIDED
July 20, 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Arthrex, Inc.VIDED
July 20, 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, United States VIDED
July 22, 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Polaris Innovations Limited VIDED
August 12, 2020
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
October 5, 2020
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/9/2020.
October 13, 2020
Petition GRANTED as to Federal Circuit case No. 2018-2140, and the petitions for writs of certiorari in Nos. 19-1452 and 19-1458 are granted, all limited to Questions 1 and 2 as set forth in the July 22, 2020 Memorandum for the United States. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
October 13, 2020
Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-1434. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-1434. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
October 21, 2020
Petitioners in Nos. 19-1434 and 19-1452 shall each file an opening brief, limited to 13,000 words, on or before Wednesday, November 25, 2020. Amicus curiae briefs in support of petitioners in Nos. 19-1434 or 19-1452, or in support of no party, shall be filed on or before Wednesday, December 2, 2020, and the briefs shall bear a light green cover. Petitioner in No. 19-1458 shall file a consolidated opening and response brief, limited to 17,000 words, on or before Wednesday, December 23, 2020. Amicus curiae briefs in support of petitioner in No. 19-1458 shall be filed on or before Wednesday, December 30, 2020, and the briefs shall bear a dark green cover. Petitioners in Nos. 19-1434 and 19-1452 shall each file a consolidated response and reply brief, limited to 14,500 words, on or before Friday, January 22, 2021. Petitioner in No. 19-1458 shall file a reply brief, limited to 6,000 words, pursuant to Rule 25.3 of the Rules of this Court. VIDED.
October 28, 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Smith & Nephew, Inc., et al.
October 29, 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Arthrex, Inc.
November 3, 2020
Consent to the filing of amicus briefs received from counsel for United States submitted.
November 9, 2020
Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by the United States GRANTED. VIDED.
December 31, 2020
SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, March 1, 2021. VIDED.
January 11, 2021
Motion for divided argument filed by the Acting Solicitor General GRANTED. VIDED.
January 14, 2021
CIRCULATED
January 25, 2021
Record requested from the U.S.C.A.Federal Circuit.
February 9, 2021
The record from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit is electronic and located on Pacer.
June 21, 2021
Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Roberts, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and II, in which Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Part III, in which Alito, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, JJ., joined. Gorsuch, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Breyer, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, in which Sotomayor and Kagan, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined as to Parts I and II. VIDED.
July 23, 2021
JUDGMENT ISSUED.