Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Wi-LAN, Inc., et al. v. Drew Hirshfeld, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2019-2284 · judgment October 9, 2020

Certiorari denied · June 21, 2021

Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Questions presented

Whether, for purposes of the Appointments Clause, U.S. Const. Art. II, § 2, Cl. 2, administrative patent judges of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are principal officers who must be appointed by the President with the Senate’s advice and consent, or “inferior Officers” whose appointment Congress has permissibly vested in a department head.
Whether, if administrative patent judges are principal officers, the court of appeals properly cured any Appointments Clause defect in the current statutory scheme prospectively by severing the application of 5 U.S.C. § 7513(a) to those judges. (i)

For petitioner
Douglas Ron Wilson
Armond Wilson LLP

For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Jun 21 2021
Petition DENIED.
Jun 01 2021
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/17/2021.
May 25 2021
Reply of petitioners Wi-LAN, Inc., et al. filed.
May 12 2021
Brief of respondent Drew Hirshfeld, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in opposition filed.
Mar 18 2021
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 12, 2021.
Mar 17 2021
Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 12, 2021 to May 12, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
Mar 08 2021
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 12, 2021)