The Post-Grant Strategist

(Co-authored by Stuart Duncan Smith)

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Thryv v. Click-to-Call Technologies last month. As we previously discussed, the case concerns whether the PTAB’s finding that a petition for IPR was timely filed is reviewable on appeal. If the Justices’ questions at oral arguments are any indication, a split decision is likely.

At issue in the case is Section 314(d) of the Patent Act, which bars appeal of the PTAB’s decision “to institute an inter partes review under this section.” The Justices must decide whether that statute applies to, and thus bars appeal of, the PTAB’s finding that the petitioner timely filed the petition before the end of Section 315(b)’s one-year window.

(Co-authored by Stuart Duncan Smith)

The statute that created inter partes review (IPR) defines certain situations when IPR is not available. For example, IPR is not available if the petitioner was served with a complaint alleging infringement of the challenged patent more than a year earlier. But if the PTAB institutes an IPR that the statute does not permit, does the patent owner have any way to challenge that institution decision? The obvious answer might seem to be appealing the institution decision to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, but the same statute also says the PTAB’s institution decision is “final and nonappealable.” Next month in Thryv, Inc. v. Click-to-Call, the Supreme Court will consider whether patent owners can ask the Federal Circuit to keep IPR within its statutory confines.