SCOTUSblog reports that the United States Supreme Court in Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee has unanimously upheld USPTO Inter Partes Review, part of the America Invents Act.
Download the no-nonsense slip opinion written by Justice Breyer at
15-446 Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee (06/20/2016)
in which Breyer writes to start:
"The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, 35 U. S. C. §100 et seq., creates a process called “inter partes review.” That review process allows a third party to ask the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine the claims in an already-issued patent and to cancel any claim that the agency finds to be unpatentable in light of prior art. See §102 (requiring “novel[ty]”); §103 (disqualifying claims that are “obvious”)."Inter partes review enables a fast-track challenge of patentability and has proven to be a valuable tool to counteract the patenting excesses of the USPTO, which have contributed to serious problems in the patent law system.
