Senator Leahy Statement on proposed PTAB Reform Act of 2022

Senator Patrick Leahy, who is chair of the Senate IP Subcommittee, has released a statement concerning the bipartisan proposed PTAB Reform Act of 2022.  The statement provides:

Patents drive our economy, allowing innovators to do what they do best while knowing they can reap the benefits of their hard work.  Good quality patents thus give small businesses and inventors certainty that they can defend their inventions from others who didn’t put in the work. Without the rights guaranteed by patents, the engine of our economy, American innovation, simply would not be as strong.  

Given the power that a patent conveys, though, a patent issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office needs to actually represent innovation.  There are serious consequences for our entire economy when the system permits enforcement of a patent that never should have issued.  Vermonters and small businesses all across the country have suffered these consequences.  Several years ago, an out-of-state company asserted poor-quality patents against dozens of Vermont small businesses and non-profits, demanding payments for each and every time a business scanned a document and then emailed it. It was a scam. And it was an egregious abuse of our patent system.    

That is why I am proud of the work we did in 2011to pass the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which allowed the public to take their concerns about a questionable patent back to the Patent Office for a more in-depth review.  Through proceedings created by the Leahy-Smith Act, the scan-to-email patents were brought back to the Patent Office and invalidated, allowing Vermont companies and non-profits to continue their important work.  The Patent Trial and Appeal Board, or PTAB, created under the Act, resolved those disputes in a way that was faster, less expensive, and more accurate than a district court because the disputes were overseen by technically trained patent judges under a strict deadline.  In the past decade of the PTAB’s existence, the public has brought thousands of patents to the Patent Office’s attention, and the Patent Office has expertly addressed validity, reinforcing the strength of high-quality patents and cancelling ones that never should have issued. 

As with any big new undertaking, that success has also brought new questions. And all enacted laws—particularly those dealing with ever-evolving technologies and science—need to be revisited and updated from time to time. That is why I am thrilled that Ranking Member Tillis, Senator Cornyn, and I just last week introduced the PTAB Reform Act of 2022.  We gathered feedback from participants in the patent system, including the public broadly and businesses across the country covering a vast array sectors and technologies.  We looked at concerns from all corners and presented a series of different options for addressing them.  This bill, the product of months of hard work and compromise, addresses the biggest concerns of stakeholders from across the spectrum.  This bill will update the PTAB so it can continue its important work into the next decade and beyond.

This is important legislation for a number of reasons.  One big question it addresses:  If a petition to the Patent Office to review a patent is meritorious on its face, should the Patent Office decline review anyway?  Many believe that all meritorious petitions should result in a review.  Many others believe that it is harassing to patent owners to have the same members of the public able to request review of the same patent repeatedly over time, when the patent owner has already defended the patent.  We addressed these issues—as we often do in the Senate—through compromise.  While meritorious petitions to review a patent should generally be granted, serial petitions over time from the same or related parties will not be allowed.

Another big question:  Who has the authority to make a final validity decision, civil-servant PTAB judges or the politically appointed Director of the Patent Office?  While the Supreme Court last year resolved that the Director is the final decision-maker, it left open questions about how the Director may make decisions.  This bill ensures that the decision-making process must be open to the public.  The public has a right to know when independent PTAB judges are making a decision, and when a politically-appointed Director is making a decision. We should not have a patent system where any given PTO Director can influence and decree decisions non-transparently and behind the scenes.

Our bill also addresses a concern raised by small business patent owners:  They had to pay to apply for a patent and then may have to pay again to defend it at the PTAB.  This is expensive, and we want to help small businesses shoulder the expense.  Thus, if a small entity has not already decided to undertake the expense of litigation, the Patent Office will cover the expense of a PTAB proceeding for that small business under our bill. 

. . . 

I know that Ranking Member Tillis and Senator Cornyn share my belief that the patent system should work well for all Americans and all sectors of our economy.  I look forward to continuing the bipartisan work of our IP Subcommittee to help deliver real improvements to our patent system. I want to leave behind an even stronger patent system that further empowers America’s greatest natural resource: our ingenuity and innovation. 

U.S. Congressional Research Service Report on Potential COVID-19 IP Rights Waiver

The Congressional Research Service has released a report for the U.S. Congress concerning the COVID-19 Patent Waiver agreement between the U.S., India, South Africa and the EU.  The report discusses the leaked agreement and outlines specific issues for the U.S. Congress to consider:

Key issues include · Should more congressional input or approval be required before the Administration could agree to modifying TRIPS obligations (as proposed in some pending bills)? · How would the proposed agreement affect innovation incentives for COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments? What would it mean for U.S. competitiveness vìs-a-vìs China, which poses major IPR theft challenges? · How would the proposed agreement affect global COVID-19 vaccine production and access? Would any boost occur quickly enough to respond to the pandemic’s current stage, or be more relevant to respond to potential future variants? What does the proposed agreement mean for future pandemic responses? · Is the U.S. position on this waiver particular to COVID-19 or a general policy shift as it relates to historical U.S. positions in advancing IPR in trade agreements? How may these issues shape potential debate on Trade Promotion Authority renewal and U.S. IPR trade negotiating objectives? · What would a timely COVID-19 IPR outcome—or its absence—mean for debates about the WTO’s relevance in the changing global economy?

The report is available, here. 

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: Public Universities do not have Sovereign Immunity from Patent IPRs

In a new U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion, Regents of the University of Minnesota v. LGI Corporation, et al., the court held that states, including public universities, are not entitled to sovereign immunity from Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to challenge an issued patent.  Judge Dyk, writing for the court, provides a nice overview of the history of administrative challenges to issued patents as well as the process for filing and prosecuting an IPR.  Notably, Judge Dyk points to the resource constraints of the USPTO in evaluating patentability and that the federal government is essentially drafting third parties through IPRs to test patentability.  Judge Dyk discusses and relies upon the reasoning of Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., 896 F.3d 1322 (Fed. Cir. 2018).  In that case, the Federal Circuit refused to apply tribal sovereign immunity to IPRs.  The court notes that it was unnecessary to reach the issue whether the University of Minnesota waived sovereign immunity for an IPR by filing a patent infringement suit concerning the IPR challenged patent.  This decision puts U.S. public university generated and owned patents in the IPR crosshairs.  Interestingly, it puts U.S. public university patents on the same footing as foreign university owned and generated U.S. patents for purposes of challenge through IPRs, thus, removing a potential advantage for U.S. public universities versus foreign universities in the United States.  

USPTO Discards Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard

The USPTO has discarded the broadest reasonable interpretation standard.  This may lead to fewer patents held to be invalid during IPR, PGR, and CBM proceedings.  The announcement states: 

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published a final rule changing the claim construction standard applied during inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), and the transitional program for covered business method patents (CBM) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). 

The final rule replaces the “broadest reasonable interpretation” standard with the federal court claim construction standard that is used to construe a claim in a civil action under 35 U.S.C. § 282(b). This is the same claim construction standard articulated in Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc), and its progeny. Additionally, under the final rule, when construing a claim term in an IPR, PGR, or CBM, the PTAB will take into consideration any prior claim construction determination that has been made in a civil action, or a proceeding before the International Trade Commission (ITC), if that prior claim construction is timely made of record in that IPR, PGR, or CBM.

. . . As noted in the rule package, the change will lead, among other things, to greater consistency and harmonization with the federal courts and the ITC and lead to greater certainty and predictability in the patent system. . . .  Several comments questioned the proposed “retroactive” application of the rule. In response to these comments, the final rule will not be retroactively applied and instead will apply only to IPR, PGR, and CBM petitions filed on or after the effective date of the final rule, which is November 13, 2018.

Gaming IP: Smart or Damaging the Entire System

Here is an interesting case of gaming the IP system.  I believe this type of tactic hurts the IP system as whole even if we may disagree about the need for reforms. 

The New York Times has an informative article titled, “How to Protect a Drug Patent?  Give It to a Native American Tribe.”  The article describes how Allergen, the pharmaceutical company:

will pay the [Native American] tribe $13.75 million. In exchange, the tribe will claim sovereign immunity as grounds to dismiss a patent challenge through a unit of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The tribe will lease the patents back to Allergan, and will receive $15 million in annual royalties as long as the patents remain valid.

As discussed in the article, this is apparently a strategy to protect the patents from Inter Partes Review Proceedings at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  As discussed in other posts, public universities have successfully claimed sovereign immunity under the 11^th amendment of the U.S. Constitution from IPR Proceedings.  I doubt this strategy will last long.  I can understand how Allergen may think this may play well with the public because Native American tribes will receive much needed funding, but really?  This looks very bad.  Of course, folks are going to start asking what that funding is being used for.  

The Most Important Patent Case in Modern History: Oil States Energy Services and the Constitutionality of IPRs

Yesterday, June 12, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court surprisingly granted cert to hear the Oil States Energy Services v. Green’s Energy Group’s case (Notably, a Rule 36 affirmance by the Federal Circuit which means there is not an opinion—the Federal Circuit is just affirming without giving reasons.).  The U.S. Supreme Court has limited its review to one question: “Whether inter partes review, an adversarial process used by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to analyze the validity of existing patents, violates the Constitution by extinguishing private property rights through a non-Article III forum without a jury.”  Could this case completely wipe out inter partes review proceedings (IPRs)?  That is certainly the hope of some.  Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court refused cert to hear the MCM Portfolio v. HP case in 2016 which raised a very similar issue.  As stated by Judge Dyk in the below Federal Circuit opinion: “On the merits, we reject MCM’s argument that inter partes review violates Article III and the Seventh Amendment, and we affirm the Board’s decision that claims 7, 11, 19, and 21 of the ’549 patent would have been obvious over the prior art.”

Notably, that particular case was graced with several amicus briefs, including by 13 law professors, the Houston Inventors Association and the University of New Mexico.  The conservative Heritage Foundation has a piece discussing the importance of the MCM Porfolio case and a call for congressional action on IPRs after the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in 2016.  Part of the attack on IPRs includes the argument by the University of New Mexico that it essentially devalues university patent rights.  The amicus brief by 13 law professors, led by Professor Adam Mossoff, specifically confronts the question of whether patent rights are public rights or private rights:

By resting its decision on the premise that “patent rights are public rights,” MCM Portfolio LLC, 812 F.3d at 1293, the Federal Circuit directly contradicts these numerous, longstanding, and binding decisions of this Court. Furthermore, the two primary administrative law cases relied on by the Federal Circuit, see id. at 1292–93, are inapplicable in determining whether the PTAB is respecting vested property rights secured under the separation of powers doctrine and under other substantive constitutional provisions, such as the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment or the Seventh Amendment. These two modern cases address solely creatures of modern administrative statutes—procedural entitlements solely created in and adjudicated by modern regulatory regimes. See, e.g., Atlas Roofing Co. v. Occupational Safety & Health Review Comm’n, 430 U.S. 442, 455–56 (1977) (addressing procedural rights within the administrative regime created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970); Tull v. United States, 481 U.S. 412, 425–27 (1986) (addressing procedural rights within administrative regime created by the Clean Water Act of 1972). Decisions by this Court addressing modern regulatory procedural entitlements are distinct from the constitutionally protected private property rights in patents long recognized by this Court and by Circuit Courts for over two hundred years. This Court recently and repeatedly confirmed the principle that patents are private property rights that are secured under the Constitution. See, e.g., - 10 - Horne, 135 S. Ct. at 2427; Fla. Prepaid, 527 U.S. at 642. This Court also warned the Federal Circuit in Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., 535 U.S. 722, 739 (2002), that it must respect “the legitimate expectations of inventors in their property” and not radically unseat such expectations by changing doctrines that have long existed since the nineteenth century. Moreover, Chief Justice John Roberts specifically stated in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006), that nineteenth-century patent law should be accorded significant weight in modern patent law in determining the nature of the private property rights secured to patent-owners. Id. at 393–94 (Roberts, C.J., concurring).

So, the question is why now?  Why does the U.S. Supreme Court grant cert now (especially a Rule 36 affirmance without a written opinion below) and not in 2016?  For sure, inter partes review proceedings, perhaps intended to wipe out bad software patents has been used surprisingly against biotech/pharma patents.  Could it be new Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch?  Assuming the timing works out, it takes four justices to take a case by writ of certiorari. (Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito and Roberts?)  Would Kennedy swing?  Curiously, over the years, I have heard many complain about the loss of the American jury system.  

President Trump's 2017 Trade Policy Agenda Released

The United States Trade Representative has released the President’s 2017 Trade Policy Agenda document (Agenda) on March 1, 2017.  The Agenda sets forth its purpose as well as its top priorities.  Interestingly, the purpose points to the voters as the impetus for the focus of the Agenda:

In 2016, voters in both major parties [?] called for a fundamental change in direction of U.S. trade policy.  The American people grew frustrated with our prior trade policy not because they have ceased to believe in free trade and open markets, but because they did not all see clear benefits from international trade agreements.  President Trump has called for a new approach, and the Trump Administration will deliver on that promise.

The overarching purpose of our trade policy – the guiding principle behind all of our actions in this key area – will be to expand trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans.  Every action we take with respect to trade will be designed to increase our economic growth, promote job creation in the United States, promote reciprocity with our trading partners, strengthen our manufacturing base and our ability to defend ourselves, and expand our agricultural and services industry exports.  As a general matter, we believe that these goals can be best accomplished by focusing on bilateral negotiations rather than multilateral negotiations – and by renegotiating and revising trade agreements when our goals are not being met.  Finally, we reject the notion that the United States should, for putative geopolitical advantage, turn a blind eye to unfair trade practices that disadvantage American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses in global markets.   [emphasis added]

One of the specific key objectives noted by the Agenda includes “Ensuring that U.S. owners of intellectual property (IP) have a full and fair opportunity to use and profit from their IP.”  The Agenda further lays out its top priorities as: “(1) defend U.S. national sovereignty over trade policy; (2) strictly enforce U.S. trade laws; (3) use all possible sources of leverage to encourage other countries to open their markets to U.S. exports of goods and services, and provide adequate and effective protection and enforcement of U.S. intellectual property rights; and (4) negotiate new and better trade deals with countries in key markets around the world.” [emphasis added].

In discussing the first priority and the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding, the Agenda states: “[E]ven if a WTO dispute settlement panel – or the WTO Appellate Body – rules against the United States, such a ruling does not automatically lead to a change in U.S. law or practice.   Consistent with these important protections and applicable U.S. law, the Trump Administration will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy.”  On strictly enforcing U.S. trade laws, the Agenda states: “We strongly support true market based competition – and we welcome the partnership of any country that agrees with us.  Unfortunately, however, large portions of the global economy do not reflect market forces.  Important sectors of the global economy, and significant markets around the world, have been at times distorted by foreign government subsidies, theft of intellectual property, currency manipulation, unfair competitive behavior by state-owned enterprises, violations of labor laws, use of forced labor, and numerous other unfair practices.”

On using leverage to open markets, the Agenda asserts that: “Other countries have looked to harm U.S. companies by blocking or unreasonably restricting the flow of digital data and services, or through theft of trade secrets.  In still others, foreign countries can use technical barriers – such as unnecessary regulations on particular items – to limit competition, including in the services sector.  Concerns have also been raised over currency practices and their impact on the competitiveness of U.S. goods and services.  These are only a few examples of the tactics that can be used to block or impede the competitiveness of U.S. exporters.”  The Agenda notes that transparency in implementing regulations of WTO rules and trade agreements would be helpful. 

On the section on negotiating new and better trade deals, the Agenda notes the following issues:  

1. In 2000, the U.S. trade deficit in manufactured goods was $317 billion.  Last year, it was $648 billion – an increase of 100 percent.

2. Our trade deficit in goods and services with China soared from $81.9 billion in 2000 to almost $334 billion in 2015 (the last year for which such data are available), an increase of more than 300 percent.

3. Of course, a rising trade deficit may be consistent with a stronger economy.  However, that has not been the experience of the typical American household.  In 2000, U.S. real median household income (in 2015 dollars) was $57,790.  In 2015 (the most recent year for which data are available), it was $56,516.  In fact, despite the recovery since the financial crisis, real median household income in the United States remains lower today than it was 16 years ago.

4. In January 2000, there were 17,284,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States – a figure roughly in line with the total number of U.S. manufacturing jobs going back to the early 1980s.   In January 2017, there were only 12,341,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States – a loss of almost 5 million jobs.

5. In the 16 years before China joined the WTO – from 1984 to 2000 – U.S. industrial production grew by almost 71 percent.  In the period from 2000 to 2016, U.S. industrial production grew by less than 9 percent.

The Agenda also notes that the most important trade deal under the Obama Administration—with South Korea—resulted in a massive trade deficit.  It will be interesting to see how intellectual property policy works out in coming negotiations.  

Public Universities Bringing More Patent Suits and May Be Immune to IPRs

A recent Technology Transfer Tactics article by Jesse Schwartz published on February 22, 2017 states that universities are bringing more intellectual property suits, particularly patent infringement actions, against large companies.  Notably, the article points to the University of Minnesota infringement suit against Gilead Life Sciences and states:

Litigation like the UM lawsuit indicates that universities are warming up to the idea that fighting for their patent rights is worth the effort and expense, says Joshua H. Haffner, JD, an attorney with Haffner Law in Los Angeles. The UM case continues a trend of schools stepping up and demanding payment for use of their patents, he notes. Carnegie Mellon University settled a patent infringement case with Marvell Technology Group for $750 million in 2016, and later that year a jury ordered Apple to pay the University of Wisconsin more than $234 million for using its microchip technology in iPhones and iPads without permission. In 2015, a jury awarded Boston University more than $13 million from three companies that infringed on its patent for blue light emitting diodes (LEDs).

“This trend is continuing because they’re making money off the cases,” Haffner says. “Patent infringement cases can be very profitable, and with every win by a university others are looking at that and saying maybe they could reap the same rewards. There are other principles at play, like protecting the inventors and the principle of ownership, but really if the invention is not making money those principles tend to fall by the wayside.”

Interestingly, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently decided the Covidien v. University of Florida Research Foundation (UFRF) matter.  In that matter, the PTAB analogized inter partes review proceedings (IPRs) to litigation and decided that public (state) universities have 11^th Amendment immunity against IPRs.  Basically, this means that parties cannot bring IPRs against public universities to challenge their patents.  Notably, this immunity may be waived by the public university.  Interestingly, UFRF brought an action in state court for breach of a license agreement.  Covidien counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement and then filed IPRs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office challenging UFRF’s patents.  Covidien then removed the action to federal court; however, the federal district court sent the action back to state court because of UFRF’s 11^th Amendment immunity.  That decision is pending resolution at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit). 

Interestingly, the PTAB states:

Petitioner additionally argues that “immunizing patents owned by alleged state entities from IPR proceedings would have harmful and far-reaching consequences.” Opp. 15–17. Here, Petitioner’s arguments are three-fold. One, invalid patents would stand simply because they are assigned to a state entity. Two, a patent owned by a monetization foundation affiliated with a state university would be insulated from the inter partes review process. Three, determining whether an entity is entitled to sovereign immunity is a fact-intensive inquiry that the Patent Office is not designed to adjudicate.

With respect to the first two arguments, we are cognizant of the fact that applying an Eleventh Amendment immunity to inter partes review, absent waiver by the state entity4, precludes the institution of inter partes review against a state entity entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity. This, indeed, is precisely the point of the Eleventh Amendment, which is the preservation of the dignity afforded to sovereign states. “The preeminent purpose of state sovereign immunity is to accord States the dignity that is consistent with their status as sovereign entities.” FMC, 535 U.S. at 760 (citing In re Ayers, 123 U.S. 443, 505 (1887)). When sovereign immunity conflicts with legislation, Congress may abrogate sovereign immunity if it has unequivocally expressed its intent to abrogate the immunity and has acted pursuant to a valid exercise of power. Seminole Tribe, 517 U.S. at 55. Petitioner does not point to, and we do not find there is, an unequivocal, express intent by Congress in the AIA to abrogate immunity for the purposes of inter partes review.  

[Footnote 4 states: Because there is no related federal district court patent infringement (or declaratory judgment of validity) case brought by Patent Owner, we do not decide here whether the existence of such a case would effect a waiver of sovereign immunity.]

Further, we are not persuaded that an application of sovereign immunity to inter partes review will do violence to the patent system. The Supreme Court in Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank, 527 U.S. 627 (1999) held that Congress does not have authority to abrogate Eleventh Amendment immunity with respect to patent infringement by the States, for “Congress identified no pattern of patent infringement by the States, let alone a pattern of constitutional violations.” Id. at 640. Based on the record before us, there is no evidence that the harm to the patent system, described by the Petitioner, will come to pass, let alone exists as a basis to divest States of sovereign immunity.

Finally, we are not persuaded that our tribunal cannot perform the fact-finding duties that Petitioner alleges would be required to determine whether an entity is entitled to sovereign immunity. Our rules and procedures provide for discovery and motion practice which, at a minimum, would provide the parties an opportunity to present arguments and supporting evidence pertaining to sovereign immunity.  

The Federal Circuit decision on this issue will be interesting, particularly if public universities continue to bring more litigation matters involving patents.  However, if there is a pending federal patent infringement claim brought by the university, I believe the PTAB (and Federal Circuit) will find a waiver of sovereign immunity.  The monetization firm argument is interesting.  [Hat tip to the Goodwin Keeping Tabs on the PTAB Alert for the lead to the case.]