Federal Circuit Splits in Unusual Patent Board Institution Case

The Federal Circuit lacks the power to weigh an administrative patent tribunal’s conclusion that it shouldn’t have launched a review of a gas pressure device patent, a split appeals panel ruled in a long-running dispute.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is barred from considering Atlanta Gas Light Co.'s appeal because at its center was a timeliness issue that the US Supreme Court has ruled isn’t appealable, Federal Circuit Judge Kara F. Stoll wrote in the 2-1 precedential opinion.

Judge Pauline Newman dissented, arguing that the majority is creating more contradictions about the validity of the ...