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ThermoLife International LLC v. Andrei Iancu, 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. 2018-2189 · judgment January 10, 2020

Certiorari denied · January 11, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 10% cert probability (95% interval 6%–15%)

Before the decision, about 2.3× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a Federal Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

  1. Whether the Federal Circuit violated the Chenery doctrine by making new factual findings in the first instance on appeal to affirm a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  2. Whether the administrative patent judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board are unconstitutionally appointed “principal” officers whose decisions should be vacated and reheard by properly appointed officers regardless of when their appointments are challenged during appeal.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Robert Jared Gajarsa
Latham & Watkins LLP

For respondent
Jeffrey B. Wall
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 11 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 02 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
  3. Dec 01 2020
    Reply of petitioner ThermoLife International LLC filed. (Distributed)
  4. Nov 13 2020
    Brief of respondent Iancu, Director, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrei in opposition filed.
  5. Oct 09 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 13, 2020.
  6. Oct 07 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 14, 2020 to November 13, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Aug 24 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 14, 2020.
  8. Aug 21 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 14, 2020 to October 14, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Aug 10 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 14, 2020)