Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

B/E Aerospace, Inc. v. C&D Zodiac, Inc.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2016-1496, 2016-1497 · judgment October 3, 2017

Certiorari denied · October 1, 2018

Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

The instant petition for certiorari presents the following two questions:

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.
Whether an obviousness analysis involving objective indicia of non-obviousness is a one-step legal conclusion weighing all Graham factors on an equal footing, or a two-step process that includes an initial determination, or prima facie case, of obviousness that is only subsequently balanced against the weight of the objective indicia of non-obviousness.

For petitioner
Morgan Chu
Irell & Manella LLP

For respondent
Adam Howard Charnes
Kilpatrick Townsend

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Oct 01 2018
Petition DENIED.
Sep 18 2018
Reply of petitioner B/E Aerospace, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
Jun 13 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
May 25 2018
Brief of respondent C&D Zodiac, Inc. in opposition filed.
Apr 17 2018
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 25, 2018.
Apr 13 2018
Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 27, 2018 to May 25, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
Mar 28 2018
Response Requested. (Due April 27, 2018)
Mar 21 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/13/2018.
Mar 13 2018
Waiver of right of respondent C&D ZODIAC INC. to respond filed.
Mar 06 2018
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 9, 2018)