5 Questions from Tuesday's Cert Grant on PTO Judge Appointments

The Supreme Court of the United States granted cert in Arthrex Inc. v. Smith & Nephew Inc., a case in which they will decide whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) administrative patent judges should be appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate or if they should be appointed by a cabinet chief. The decision could sever patent laws and impact patent cases that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has remanded back to the PTAB. National Law Journal contacted Finnegan partner and former lead administrative patent judge, Trenton Ward, for his perspective on whether the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Arthrex will affect the PTAB’s current day-to-day practice. He said, “Obviously, they’re aware of it, but there’s a lot of work to be done, and you can’t continually focus on issues that are outside the control of the PTAB. This is one of them.”

Read the full story here.