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Polaris Innovations Limited v. Kingston Technology Company, Inc., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2018-1768


GVR'd · June 28, 2021
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

  1. Whether severance of the tenure protections for Administrative Patent Judges (“APJs”) was unavailable to the Arthrex court to remedy the violation of the Appointments Clause by the IPR statute, 35 U.S.C. § 311 et seq, because Congress would have maintained such protection for APJs;

  2. Whether the Arthrex decision’s removal of APJ tenure protections is insufficient to cure the violation of the Appointments Clause by the IPR statute.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Matthew D. Powers
Tensegrity Law Group LLP

For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 3 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jul 30 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 28 2021
    Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of United States v. Arthrex, Inc., 594 U. S. ___ (2021).
  3. Jun 21 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/24/2021.
  4. Oct 05 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/9/2020.
  5. Aug 12 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  6. Aug 05 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of TiVo Corporation filed.
  7. Jul 29 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The New York Intellectual Property Law Association filed.
  8. Jul 22 2020
    Memorandum of respondent United States filed. VIDED.
  9. Jul 21 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Polaris Innovations Limited VIDED
  10. Jul 20 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, United States VIDED
  11. Jun 30 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 5, 2020)