SCOTUS Upholds IPRs As Constitutional, May Leave Opening For Challenges To Certain IPRs

Is inter partes review of a patent grant compatible with Article III and the Seventh Amendment? That was the question presented in Oil States Energy Services v. Greene's Energy Group, and the U.S. Supreme Court this week answered in the affirmative. In a 7–2 decision authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Court held a patent grant is a "public right" and therefore may be modified or revoked by the executive branch without going through full-dress judicial proceedings in the federal courts. As a result, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board can continue to reassess and nix mistakenly granted patents at relatively low cost to challengers.

IPRs as Key Tool for Weeding Out Bad Patents