Creative Lawyers Target Patent Board With Constitutional Suits

A wide range of constitutional attacks on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board is surprising some attorneys as others angle to remove its power to review the validity of issued patents.

To the Top? In the one challenge that’s connected, the Federal Circuit found that PTAB judges’ appointments were unconstitutional and fixed the problem by stripping them of firing protections. The Supreme Court is facing calls to take the case, which a Ropes & Gray LLP partner says is “all but a lock.”

Little Ultimate Threat: Other arguments involved drug companies claiming their property rights were unconstitutionally taken in the ...