Director Of PTO Requests Chevron Deference For Precedential Opinion Panel

The Federal Circuit recently asked the government to submit an amicus brief to address "what, if any, deference should be afforded to decisions of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board Precedential Opinion Panel ('POP'), and specifically to the POP opinion in Proppant Express Investments, LLC v. Oren Technologies, LLC, No. IPR2018-00914, Paper 38 (P.T.A.B. Mar. 13, 2019)." Order, Facebook, Inc. v. Windy City Innovations, LLC., No. 2018-1400 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 12, 2019).

In 2018, the Director of the Patent and Trademark Office created the Precedential Opinion Panel, which typically comprises the Director, the Commissioner for Patents, and the Chief Judge of the PTAB. The POP may be convened to rehear matters that are of exceptional importance, or to assist the Director in deciding whether a PTAB decision should be designated as precedential or informative.