IP Law Bulletin

In a case that has received significant attention over the past several months, a United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel recently concluded that the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s claim of tribal immunity did not prevent the PTAB from reviewing patents held by the Tribe. As an alternative basis for proceeding with the review, the panel found that, despite the assignment to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Tribe was not essential to the proceedings because the original patent owner, Allergan, effectively still owned the patents.

On June 12, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Oil States Energy Services LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC to decide whether the AIA (America Invents Act) patent review program for challenging the validity of issued patents is constitutional. Specifically, the Court will decide the question of “whether inter partes review – an adversarial process used by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to analyze the validity of existing patents – violates the Constitution by extinguishing private property rights through a non-Article III forum without a jury.”