Federal Circuit Says No to Joinder in Facebook Row (1)

Facebook Inc. couldn’t join itself to Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings in which it was already involved, or add issues that would have otherwise been time-barred, the Federal Circuit ruled.

In an “additional views” attachment to the opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also said there was “no indication” that Congress intended to delegate authority to the patent office director, Andrei Iancu, to interpret statutes via the agency’s Precedential Opinion Panel (POP). Iancu sits on the panel.

The case involves an appeal of the PTAB’s decision to allow Facebook to file follow-on petitions to join ...