Oil States Moves Toward Resolution

In November the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Oil States Energy Services LLC v. Greene's Energy Group LLC, No. 16-712, oral argument held, 2017 WL 5680363 (U.S. Nov. 27, 2017). The patent community now awaits the high court's ruling on the constitutional fate of inter partes review proceedings. The Supreme Court is likely to release its opinion in the case soon.

Just so we're all on the same page: IPRs provide an administrative forum within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office where third parties can square off with patent owners over the validity of an issued patent. The administrative tribunal, established in 2012, bears the moniker Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Because these USPTO patent trials, by definition, do not take place in Article III courts, Oil States has attacked IPRs as fundamentally unconstitutional.