Patent Office Doubles Down on Full Court Arthrex Review

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is pushing back on Arthrex Inc.'s argument that the Federal Circuit should have invalidated an entire section of patent law when it found administrative patent judges were unconstitutionally appointed.

The PTO, in its second brief asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review its seminal decision in Arthrex Inc. v. Smith and Nephew, Inc., called the company’s position “incorrect.”

The court, in its October 2019 decision, severed the part of federal patent law that prevented judges from being fired without cause. That changed their status from principal to ...