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Natural Alternatives International, Inc. v. Andrei Iancu, Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2017-1962, 2017-1963 · judgment October 1, 2018


Certiorari denied · May 13, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

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

Question presented

Did the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit err in analyzing rulings by the Patent Trial and Appeals Board when it failed to base its decision on the Board’s stated reasoning that was the only reasoning briefed by the Patent Office, failed to explain its reasons for departing from the agency guidance, and removed patent law from the ambit of normal property law to create a non-statutory exception to property law? When is priority established for a patent application under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) so that a Patent Owner can change priority in one application without affecting the priority of applications that have already established priority?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Scott Allen Max Chambers
Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C.

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
18A657

Proceedings

  1. May 13 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 23 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/9/2019.
  3. Apr 16 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Andrei Iancu, Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office to respond filed.
  4. Feb 28 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 4, 2019)
  5. Dec 21 2018
    Application (18A657) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until February 28, 2019.
  6. Dec 13 2018
    Application (18A657) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 30, 2018 to February 28, 2019, submitted to The Chief Justice.