Aly Featured on U.S. Supreme Court Decision Preserving IPR Patent Review

Intellectual Property Group Co-Leader Imron Aly was featured among intellectual property and patent litigation thought leaders on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., ruling that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) administrative patent judges were unconstitutionally appointed officers.

The Court ruled to sever the statute and allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Director to review final decisions, a solution that may preserve the current inter partes review (IPR) system for reviewing patents.

Imron said, “IPRs are saved by allowing the PTO director to review PTAB decisions…. From a legal or academic point of view, this is fascinating because the Justices were clearly struggling with where to draw the line once finding the statute unconstitutional: does it mean throwing out the whole IPR system and kicking the issue back to Congress, or can the courts fix it themselves? The case has broader implications on that point and much to discuss. For the issue presented, and from a practical point of view, Justice Roberts here essentially tacked on the ability for the director to review PTAB decisions as an appropriate and sufficient fix.”

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