U.S. Supreme Court Time Bar Ruling Could Bring Uncertainty to Joinder Issues

Managing Intellectual Property contacted Finnegan partner Josh Goldberg for his thoughts on the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) decision in Thryv Inc. v. Click-to-Call Technologies, which ruled that inter partes review (IPR) petitions that were timely filed cannot be appealed.

In addition to the time-bar issue, Josh indicated that the ruling could have an impact on other procedural matters, such as joinder issues. He said, “The way this case framed the bounds of 314(d) and restricting review made the restriction fairly extensive.” Referencing the Federal Circuit’s decision in Facebook v. Windy City Innovations, which also addressed joinder issues, Josh noted that while he doesn’t think the SCOTUS decision in Thryv Inc. v. Click-to-Call Technologies reverses the Federal Circuit’s ruling, he does think it may add context to similar rulings. He said, “It may call into question whether these cases would have been able to happen the way that they did. And it may be that the Federal Circuit’s ultimate decision on the issue is correct, but if it wasn’t supposed to be making the decision in the first place, what is the takeaway from that?”

Lastly, Josh commented on how the SCOTUS decision will impact Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) strategies moving forward. He said, “Petitioners and patent owners are going to re-tread a lot of issues that had already been settled because they are now potentially wide open. This will drive an increase in volume of arguments that are presented both by petitioners and patent owners at the board.”

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