THRYV v. Click-to-call Technologies, LP
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 20, 2020 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- April 20, 2020
- Term
- October Term 2019
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. Inter partes review is an administrative process in which a patent challenger may ask the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to reconsider the validity of earlier granted patent claims. This case concerns a statutorily prescribed limitation of the issues a party may raise on appeal from an inter partes review proceeding. When presented with a request for inter partes review, the agency must decide whether to institute review. 35 U.S.C. § 314. Among other conditions set by statute, if the request comes more than a year after suit against the requesting party for patent infringement, "[a]n inter partes review may not be instituted." § 315(b). "The determination by the [PTO] Director whether to institute an inter partes review under this section shall be final and nonappealable." § 314(d). In this case, the agency instituted inter partes review in response to a petition from Thryv, Inc., resulting in the cancellation of several patent claims. Patent owner Click-to-Call Technologies, LP, appealed, contending that Thryv's petition was untimely under § 315(b). The question before us: Does § 314(d)'s bar on judicial review of the agency's decision to institute inter partes review preclude Click-to-Call's appeal? Our answer is yes. The agency's application of § 315(b)'s time limit, we hold, is closely related to its decision…
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