Patent rulings since 2000 invalid?

May 30, 2008

Chris Maresca In a very strange twist, a law professor John Duffy discovered last year (PDF) http://www.patentlyo.com/lawjournal/files/Duffy.BPAI.pdf that, since March 2000, the appointments to the Patent Board may have been unconstitutional. The net effect of this is that nearly 2/3rds of the Patent Board judges are not legally appointed and their decisions could be invalidated.

While the details are very much deep in constitutional law, it basically stems from the fact that because members of the Patent Board are judges, they have to be appointed by the President or one of his officers. In March 2000, Congress changed the law to allow the Director of the USPTO to appoint Patent Board judges. Somehow or another, they missed the fact that the Director of the USPTO is not a constitutional officer and could not appoint any judges....

Full Story: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/27295