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Comcast Cable Communications, LLC v. Rovi Guides, Inc., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2019-1215, 2019-1216, 2019-1218, 2019-1293, 2019-1294, 2019-1295 · judgment April 22, 2020


Dismissed · December 3, 2020
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, for purposes of the Appointments Clause, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2, administrative patent judges of the United States 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.

  2. Whether the court of appeals erred by adjudicating the patent owner’s Appointments Clause challenge, even though it did not present that challenge to the agency.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Donald B. Verrilli Jr.
Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

For respondent
Michael E. Joffre
Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, P.L.L.C.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Related
Vide, 20-271, 20-414, 20-679, 20-74, 20-92

Proceedings

  1. Dec 03 2020
    Petition Dismissed - Rule 46.
  2. Nov 17 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/4/2020.
  3. Nov 13 2020
    Motion of petitioner to dismiss the petition for a writ of certiorari pursuant Rule 46.2 filed.
  4. Oct 20 2020
    Reply of petitioner Comcast Cable Communications, LLC filed.
  5. Sep 21 2020
    Memorandum of respondent Rovi Guides, Inc. filed.
  6. Aug 28 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 2, 2020)