Inter partes review of challenges to a patent before the Patent Office does not violate Article III of the Constitution. A patent grant falls within the public rights doctrine which accords Congress latitude in providing for non-Article III decision-makers to resolve such matters. An inter partes review involves the same matter as the initial grant of the patent and so also falls within the public rights arena. The Seventh Amendment’s guarantee of the right to a jury trial does not create a separate ground for overturning Congress’ delegation of public rights issues to non-Article III decision-makers.
United States Supreme Court (Thomas, J.; Breyer, Ginsburg, & Sotomayor, JJ., concurring; Roberts, C.J., & Gorsuch, J., dissenting); April 24, 2018; 2018 U.S. LEXIS 2630