Supreme Court agrees to hear patent case on inter partes review News
Supreme Court agrees to hear patent case on inter partes review

The US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [order, PDF] Monday in SAS Institute Inc. v. Lee [SCOTUSblog materials] on whether third parties can petition the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) [official website] to re-review issued claims and, if not patentable, cancel them. The question now is whether the re-review law requires the USPTO to issue written decisions regarding all the challenged claims, or only some of them. The issue before the court is:

Whether 35 USC § 318(a), which provides that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in an inter partes review “shall issue a final written decision with respect to the patentability of any patent claim challenged by the petitioner,” requires that Board to issue a final written decision as to every claim challenged by the petitioner, or whether it allows that Board to issue a final written decision with respect to the patentability of only some of the patent claims challenged by the petitioner, as the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held.

Petitioner claims [cert. petition, PDF] that the statute in question is written in plain English, and should be interpreted in the manner in which the words mean in common conversation. The relevant statutory provision is, “If an inter partes review is instituted and not dismissed under this chapter, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board shall issue a final written decision with respect to the patentability of any patent claim challenged by the petitioner.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

First impeachment trial began in US Senate

On December 17, 1798, the US Senate began its first impeachment trial. Senator William Blount of Tennessee, a land speculator, was accused of plotting with England to wrest control of Florida from Spain. The Senate ultimately dismissed the charges for lack of jurisdiction—and, perhaps incidentally, lack of Blount, who had gone to Tennessee and had refused to return to the Senate for trial. Read more on the trial of William Blount.

Simon Bolivar dies

On December 17, 1830, South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar died in Colombia. During his lifetime, Bolivar led successful revolutions against Spanish colonial rule throughout South America. His efforts led to the independence of the modern-day nations of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador and Bolivia, a nation named in his honor.