High Court Review of ‘No Opinion’ Patent Rulings Sought

An appeal of a Patent and Trademark Office decision on the validity of a patent deserves more than a one-word “Affirmed” ruling, according to a brief filed June 19 at the U.S. Supreme Court (Celgard v. Matal, U.S., 16-1526, review sought 6/19/17).

Patent challenges at the PTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board—created by the America Invents Act of 2011—are so popular that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit now receives more appeals from PTAB decisions than from district courts. But the number of judges on the court has remained the same.

The court has issued ...