Justices Pass on ‘Dangerous’ Patent Standard of Review Rule

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t review a Federal Circuit decision upholding the invalidation of four ethanol distillation patents owned by GS CleanTech Corp.

CleanTech argued the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s ruling gave a federal trial court too much deference and created a patent-specific rule for reviewing an issue resolved on partial summary judgment.

The decision created a split with every other federal appeals court and established a “dangerous new national precedent that threatens untold harm to future litigants,” it said.

The case is GS CleanTech Corp. v. Adkins Energy LLC, U.S., No. 20-769, review denied 2/22/21