Posted on 06/21/2021 4:09:40 PM PDT by bigdaddy45
The U.S. Supreme Court reined in the power of patent judges on Monday, finding the lack of ability to review their decisions inconsistent with their status as “inferior officers” under the Constitution.
Written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the ruling spells an overhaul of the U.S. patent regime. The majority ruling finds that the decisions of some 250 administrative patent judges will have to be reviewable by the director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in order to pass constitutional muster under the Appointments Clause.
In a ruling with Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Roberts found their unreviewable authority unconstitutional.
The ruling drew a scathing dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas, who found uncommon company with the court’s left flank: Steven Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor.
(Excerpt) Read more at lawandcrime.com ...
There have always been such decisions. I remember one where Scalia and Thomas were on the same side as Breyer and Ginsburg.
‘
Let me know when Kavanaugh doesn’t Vote with Roberts.
The two are seen together often.
Anything that weakens the court is good.
I see Thomas’ point, although I’m note sure Patent Judges should be the final word.
Strange Daze....
For all we know Deep State is drawing straws to see who has to rule a certain way on what in cases Deep State doesn’t give a bleep about.
Wickard v. Filburn needs some extremely serious “review”.
Why did Gorsuch rule the way he did? Supposedly, he rules in favor of limiting executive authority.
Justice Thomas is the wisest sitting Jurist on the SCOTUS.
It will be a sad day in the History of our Nation when he Retires or Passes away.
He is the only one of those nine who does exactly what an Associate SCOTUS Justice is supposed to do, adhere to the original intent of the Constitution of the United States in writing his Opinions.
Admittedly I don’t know enough about this particular Case to comment. If Justice Thomas strayed that far from our Constitution in his Opinion on this Case I would be shocked.
I will leave it to wiser FReepers to dissect this Ruling.
Patent Law has needed major changes since the 80’s.
It is almost pointless to apply for a patent as someone will buy a dead company with a similar idea and then sue you into oblivion.
Disney keeps Micky Mouse for another 100 years ? LOL
That’s a shame because they Micky Mouse Club song should replace Hail to the Chief for now…
I don’t know how much political ideology has to do with this. I have a lot of experience with trademarks, and have been writing my second patent expected to file within weeks. It doesn’t sound like this is a ‘major overhaul’, it sounds at first glance that it just inserts another level of appeal internally at the USPTO. Which imo there should be.
A major overhaul may be due but this doesn’t sound like that. This actually sounds good, and may at least slow down the constant litigation surrounding patents and trademarks.
Thomas is an expert in patent law and often authors the majority opinions on the subject. I defer to Thomas.
“ Wickard v. Filburn needs some extremely serious “review”.
It needs to be overturned
L
Sounds to me that Thomas called it the way he saw it. He may be right from a Constitutional point of view, and maybe saw it as the purview of the Administrator to delegate rulings. From my personal perspective, not having enough ability to review or appeal rulings internally at the USPTO would be an error and bad for the national interest.
IANAL so maybe I am reading this wrong.
Never happen. The Supreme Court has been a willing and eager co-conspirator in every federal power grab since Marbury vs. Madison. They're not going to backtrack.
“Marbury vs. Madison”
THAT one too....
There was one entire Supreme Court session — it might have been 2016-2017 — when the two justices who voted on the same side more frequently than any other pair were Thomas and Ginsberg. Go figure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.