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A couple of the Justices got a little bit exercised during the oral argument of City of Hays, Kansas v. Vogt, at the U.S. Supreme Court today.  Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Breyer had the following exchange in regard to Justice Breyer’s inquiry about extra-record evidence:

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JUSTICE BREYER: And for that reason I’ve looked up whether you objected, because I do not see how the magistrate running the preliminary hearing can know what to do unless somebody tells him that these statements were taken in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

One, I don’t see where you ever did tell the magistrate that.

Two, looking at the transcript of the preliminary hearing, I couldn’t find any instance where any of the compelled statements were introduced into the preliminary hearing.

So what I would like you to do is to tell me what pages to look at in the preliminary transcript, which I have here, which will show that you did object or at least that some of the compelled statements were used?

MS. CORKRAN: So none of this is in the record and the reason it’s not -¬

JUSTICE BREYER: It may not be in the record –

MS. CORKRAN: Yeah. But I -¬

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: That’s an important point, isn’t it?

MS. CORKRAN: Yes.

JUSTICE BREYER: Of course it’s an important point.

(Laughter.)

MS. CORKRAN: But the -¬

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, before we start having an extended exchange about material and something that’s not in the record, I — well, I guess I would just like to point out that it’s not in the record. There’s a reason we confine things to what’s in the record, including how do we know what this is if it’s not in the record.

MS. CORKRAN: But the —

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS:  How do we know that it’s been adequately — had a chance for people to object to it and all that?  It’s — it’s not just a passing comment that it’s not in the record.

JUSTICE BREYER: Nor is actually mine a passing comment because Article III of the Constitution says we are to take real cases and controversies. And to decide a major matter where, in fact, going from what is in the record to an earlier stage of this and discovering if it’s true, that there was no instance about which you are complaining, in my mind raises the question as to whether this is, in fact, an appropriate case or controversy for the Court to take.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: And we’re supposed to decide whether the cases are controversies according to law. And as far as I’m concerned coming in and saying I want to know about this thing that’s not in the record is no different from somebody else coming off the street and saying: Hey, wait a minute, I know what happened in this case.

So, go ahead and answer it.

MS. CORKRAN: Yeah.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: It’s a question that you’ve been presented with. Go ahead and answer it.

JUSTICE BREYER: You don’t have to answer it.

MS. CORKRAN: No, I -¬

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: No, no, feel free. I’m just saying I will discount the answers because it’s not something that’s in the record.

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You can listen to the audio here:

See this earlier post about whether the Federal Circuit has equitable power to consult extra-record evidence: [Link]. 

The US government’s office of personnel management keeps a list of how many administrative law judges are employed by each administrative agency.  The OPM does not include the USPTO’s administrative patent judges on the list.

The top five agencies and their corresponding number of ALJ’s are:

Social Security Administration:  1655 ALJ’s

Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals: 101 ALJ’s

Department of Labor: 41 ALJ’s

National Labor Relations Board:  34 ALJ’s

Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission:  15 ALJ’s.

Source:  https://www.opm.gov/services-for-agencies/administrative-law-judges/#url=ALJs-by-Agency

Just a reminder that the comment period for the USPTO’s subject matter eligibility guidance is still open.  If you want to submit comments on how you think the subject matter eligibility guidance should be revised — particularly in response to the recent Berkheimer v. HP precedential opinion — you can still do so.  The USPTO explains the process on its web site, part of which is reproduced below:

How to comment

We are interested in receiving public feedback on this guidance.  The comment period is open-ended, and comments will be accepted on an ongoing basis.

Anyone may submit written comments to 2014_interim_guidance@uspto.gov(link sends e-mail). Email comments submitted in plain text are preferred, but also may be submitted in ADOBE® portable document format or MICROSOFT WORD® format. Because comments will be available to the public, information that is not desired to be made public, such as an address or a phone number, should not be included in the comments.

Comments are available for public viewing here:

• Comments received in response to the 2014 interim guidance on patent subject matter eligibility

• Comments received in response to the July 2015 update: subject matter eligibility 

• Comments received in response to the May 2016 subject matter eligibility update

The Utah IP Summit is next Friday.

More info available [here].

Software can make non-abstract improvements to computer technology just as hardware improvements can, and sometimes the improvements can be accomplished through either route. We thus see no reason to conclude that all claims directed to improvements in computer-related technology, including those directed to software, are abstract and necessarily analyzed at the second step of Alice, nor do we believe that Alice so directs.

ENFISH, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F.3d 1327, 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2016)(Judge Chen writing for the court).

Our cases confirm that software-based innovations can make “non-abstract improvements to computer technology” and be deemed patent-eligible subject matter at step 1.

FINJAN, INC. v. BLUE COAT SYSTEMS, INC., No. 2016-2520 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 10, 2018)(slip opinion at page 7)(Judge Dyk writing for the court).

Somebody commented on the Patently-O blog the other day that a claim that is patent eligible under §101 can become patent ineligible simply by narrowing the claim to recite a specific function that is a purported abstract idea.  Judge Linn made a similar comment back in 2016 in the oral argument of IPLearn-Focus v. Microsoft. You can listen to that sound bite here:

You can view the previous post about the IPLearn-Focus v. Microsoft case [here].

In this earlier post [link], I noted that a reader had pointed me in the direction of the pending Knowles v. Matal case at the Federal Circuit.  In the briefing of that case, the DOJ and USPTO have indicated that in rare circumstances the USPTO might choose to take a position opposite to that rendered by the PTAB, when the PTAB’s decision is appealed to the Federal Circuit.  I thought it might be of interest to post the pertinent portion of the brief below (with footnotes moved to the end and emphasis added in bolded underlines):

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Instead, Congress added a sentence addressing the agency’s authority to intervene, at its discretion, in appeals from inter partes cases, including inter partes reexaminations. The new sentence states, “The Director shall have the right to intervene in an appeal from a decision entered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board . . . in an inter partes or post-grant review under chapter 31 or 32.” 35 U.S.C. § 143 (2012). Although that sentence does not specifically mention inter partes reexaminations, which were being phased out by the AIA, Congress explained elsewhere in the Act that “the Director’s right under the fourth sentence of section 143”—the sentence just quoted—“to intervene in an appeal from a decision entered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board shall be deemed to extend to inter partes reexaminations.” AIA, Pub. L. No. 112-29 § 7(e)(4), 125 Stat. 284, 315 (2011); see also 157 Cong. Rec. S1377 (daily ed. Mar. 8, 2011) (statement of Sen. Kyl) (“In the effective-date provision at the end of section [7], various existing [appeal] authorities are extended so that they may continue to apply to inter partes reexaminations commenced under the old system.”); see also Joseph Matal, Legislative History of the America Invents Act: Part II of II, 21 FED. CIR. B.J. 539, 542 n.25 (2012).

Furthermore, the Director’s right to intervene in inter partes reexaminations extends to those reexaminations “that are requested . . . before the effective date” of the AIA. Pub. L. No. 112-29 § 7(e)(4), 125 Stat. 284, 315. In other words, the change in the law was made applicable to all inter partes reexaminations that were requested before the AIA came into effect. Thus, the USPTO’s participation in appeals from inter partes reexaminations went from an obligation to a right, even for inter partes reexaminations that were already pending.

The statute thus spells out the situations in which the Director has the right to intervene, which include inter partes reexaminations, inter partes reviews, and other inter partes cases in the USPTO. This Court therefore routinely asks the USPTO if it plans to intervene in inter partes cases, particularly in cases like this one where the Court would otherwise lose the benefit of the adversarial process. The statute also clearly specifies the cases in which the Director is automatically a party—ex parte cases. 35 U.S.C. § 143 (2012).

The statute does not discuss or limit the positions the Director may take in any type of case. In ex parte cases, the statute merely specifies that the Director must “address[ ] all of the issues raised in the appeal,” 35 U.S.C. § 143 (2012); in inter partes cases, even that requirement does not exist. Although the Director typically intervenes on the side of the appellee, even in that posture, the Director may take any substantive position he likes.2

 

Indeed, Ingalls directly addresses the Director’s position in these appeals, not as a representative of the Board but as a representative of the agency as a whole. When the Board—the USPTO’s adjudicator—makes a decision, the “order of the agency’s designated adjudicator is in reality an order of the agency itself.” 519 U.S. at 268. The agency “may then be free to designate its enforcer/litigator as its voice before the courts of appeals.” Id. The agency’s litigator—in this case the USPTO Solicitor—while appearing on the side of the appellee, “is free to argue on behalf of the petitioner and to challenge the decision of the Board.” Id. at 270. Thus, if the Director (or Solicitor) disagrees with the Board’s decision, he need not argue in support of affirmance. This prevents “a ‘lopsided’ scheme whereby the Director can appear only in defense of the [Board’s] decisions.” Id. (citations omitted).3

In practice, the USPTO Director typically intervenes in appeals from inter partes cases in only two particular types of situations. Recognizing that the two parties can adequately represent the adverse sides of the dispute if both are present but not when the appellee has dropped out of the case, the Director will often intervene when the appellee has dropped out to preserve the adversarial presentation of the issues and to support the agency’s decision. Other than that, the Director often intervenes when the dispute on appeal implicates broader USPTO or government interests. Those interests may involve the validity or interpretation of federal statutes, of the USPTO’s procedures, or of USPTO regulations. So, for example, if an appellant argues that a regulation that the Board followed is contrary to the Patent Act, the Director may intervene to support the regulation. Although the Director could choose to intervene, under the statute, in every inter partes case, he instead selects cases in which his participation would be most important to the agency and helpful to the Court.

The Director’s presence is not required, however, for the appeal to proceed. As discussed above, the appellant has a justiciable controversy because it stands to lose its patent. The lack of USPTO participation does not moot the appellant’s case any more than does the reexamination requester’s declining to participate, discussed above.

In the unlikely event that the government were to decline to defend the Board’s decision in a case in which no other party was defending it, the Court could simply decide to hear the patentee’s appeal without the benefit of an adverse party. Alternatively, the Court could appoint or invite an amicus to defend the Board’s decision. The Supreme Court, for example, often chooses that route when the government confesses error and declines to defend a favorable decision from a lower tribunal. See, e.g., Becker v. Montgomery, 532 U.S. 757, 762 n.1 (2001) (“Without any party to defend the Sixth Circuit’s position, we invited [attorney] Stewart A. Baker to brief and argue this case, as amicus curiae, in support of the judgment below. His able representation . . . permit[s] us to decide this case[,] satisfied that the relevant issues have been fully aired.” (citations omitted)). Or, if the government confesses error and the Court concludes that, in consequence, there is nothing substantial remaining to be decided, the Court may simply vacate and remand. See Lawrence on Behalf of Lawrence v. Chater, 516 U.S. 163, 169-73 (1996); Florida Power & Light Co. v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 744 (1985) (“If the record before the agency does not support the agency action, if the agency has not considered all relevant factors, or if the reviewing court simply cannot evaluate the challenged agency action on the basis of the record before it, the proper course, except in rare circumstances, is to remand to the agency for additional investigation or explanation.”).

Regardless, because the USPTO typically intervenes to defend the Board’s decision and tries to avoid situations in which a Board decision that it disagrees with is heard on appeal, the situation rarely arises. Far more common, and preferable, is a situation like this, in which the USPTO Director chooses to intervene to support the Board’s decision.

The Patently-O blog recently reported on the new petition for writ of certiorari in R&L Carriers, Inc. v. Intermec Technologies Corp. [Cert. petition]. The question presented asks:

Stated differently, where’s the factual inquiry?

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the classic Wendy’s commercial:

While the Federal Circuit has recently been fond of saying that §101 is a question of law, the court in the past has repeatedly said that factual issues can underlie the §101 analysis:

Whether a claim is directed to statutory subject matter is a question of law. Although determination of this question may require findings of underlying facts specific to the particular subject matter and its mode of claiming . . . .

Arrhythmia Research Technology v. Corazonix Corp., 958 F.2d 1053 (Fed. Cir. 1992).

It is well-established that “whether the asserted claims … are invalid for failure to claim statutory subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101, is a question of law which we review without deference.” AT & T Corp. v. Excel Commc’ns, Inc.,172 F.3d 1352, 1355 (Fed.Cir.1999). As a question of law, lack of statutory subject matter is a “ground [for affirmance] within the power of the appellate court to formulate.” Chenery, 318 U.S. at 88, 63 S.Ct. 454. While there may be cases in which the legal question as to patentable subject matter may turn on subsidiary factual issues, Comiskey has not identified any relevant fact issues that must be resolved in order to address the patentability of the subject matter of Comiskey’s application. Moreover, since we would review a Board decision on the issue of patentability without deference, see AT & T, 172 F.3d at 1355, the legal issue concerning patentability is not “a determination of policy or judgment which the agency alone is authorized to make.” Chenery, 318 U.S. at 88, 63 S.Ct. 454.

In re Comiskey, 554 F.3d 967 (Fed. Cir. 2009)(Judge Dyk writing for the court).

Moreover, in McRo v. Bandai, the Federal Circuit pointed to a lack of evidence in an abstract idea challenge:

McRO v. Bandai, 837 F.3d 1299, 1314 (Fed. Cir. 2016)(emphasis added).

In the administrative context, the PTO’s solicitor’s office noted in its briefing of Apple v. Ameranth:

USPTO Brief in Apple et al. v. Ameranth at page 13 (Associate Solicitor Joe Matal signing for the Office).

USPTO Brief in Apple et al. v. Ameranth at page 20 (Associate Solicitor Joe Matal signing for the Office).

In Versata II, the Federal Circuit stated:

The section 101 analysis applied by the PTAB was not legally erroneous under Mayo and Alice. And its underlying fact findings and credibility determinations are supported by substantial evidence in the record. See Microsoft Corp. v. Proxyconn, Inc., Nos. 14-1542, -1543, 789 F.3d 1292, 1297, 2015 WL 3747257, at *2 (Fed.Cir. June 16, 2015)(noting that as a general matter, we review the PTAB’s findings of fact for substantial supporting evidence in the record).

Versata Dev. Group, Inc. v. SAP America, Inc. (“Versata II”), 793 F.3d 1306, 1336 (2015).

UPDATE 2/1/2018:

The infamous In re Comiskey decision came up recently in the oral argument of TAKEDA PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY LIMITED v. ARRAY BIOPHARMA INC., No. 2017-1079 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 26, 2017).

Judge Moore had some frank comments about the In re Comiskey opinion.  She referred to In re Comiskey as an “administrative law nightmare” and “horrifically wrongly decided.”

You can listen to Judge Moore’s comments here:

You can read the Takeda v. Array opinion here: [Link].

You can read the In re Comiskey en banc order here, which includes Judge Moore’s dissent: [Link].

You can read the In re Comiskey reissued opinion here: [Link].

You can listen to then Assistant Solicitor Chen respond to questioning from Judge Dyk in the oral argument of In re Comiskey here:

After posting the previous post about the SEC Supreme Court matter, I got sidetracked into looking at some SEC cases that dealt with the constitutional issue of whether ALJ’s are appointed under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.  In some previous SEC matters, plaintiffs sought  TRO’s or preliminary injunctions in district court in order to have a district court decide the constitutional issue, rather than the SEC.  See, e.g., Duka v. SEC, 2015 WL 4940057 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 3, 2015); Hill v. SEC, 2015 WL 4307088 (N.D. Ga. June 8, 2015)

That made me wonder about the current sovereign immunity cases at the PTAB and whether any of the affected parties in those proceedings would opt for pursuing a TRO or preliminary injunction in order to have a district court, rather than the PTO, decide the constitutional* issue of sovereign immunity protection.  Apparently, there is some Supreme Court authority for the proposition that administrative agencies are not well-suited to decide constitutional issues:

3. Plaintiff’s Constitutional Claims Are Outside the Agency’s Expertise.

The SEC claims that Plaintiff’s challenges “fall within the Commission’s expertise,” and the “SEC is in the best position to interpret its own policies and regulations in the first instance.” Dkt. No. [12] at 13. The Court finds that Plaintiff’s Article I, Seventh Amendment, and Article II claims are outside the agency’s expertise.^[6]

1310*1310 Plaintiff’s constitutional claims are governed by Supreme Court jurisprudence, and “the statutory questions involved do not require technical considerations of agency policy.” Free Enterprise, 561 U.S. at 491, 130 S.Ct. 3138(alteration and internal quotations omitted) (quoting Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 373, 94 S.Ct. 1160, 39 L.Ed.2d 389 (1974)); see also Thunder Basin, 510 U.S. at 215, 114 S.Ct. 771 (“[A]djudication of the constitutionality of congressional enactments has generally been thought beyond the jurisdiction of administrative agencies.”) (quoting Johnson, 415 U.S. at 368, 94 S.Ct. 1160). These claims are not part and parcel of an ordinary securities fraud case, and there is no evidence that (1) Plaintiff’s constitutional claims are the type the SEC “routinely considers,” or (2) the agency’s expertise can be “brought to bear” on Plaintiff’s claims as they were in Elgin. Elgin, 132 S.Ct. at 2140.

The Court finds that as to this factor, Plaintiff’s constitutional claims are outside the SEC’s expertise, and that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction.

Hill v. SEC, 114 F. Supp. 3d 1297, 1309-10 (N.D. Ga. 2015).

Also, in Public Utilities Comm’n v. United States, 355 U. S. 534, 539 (1958) the Supreme Court said:

But where the only question is whether it is constitutional to fasten the administrative procedure onto the litigant, the administrative agency may be defied and judicial relief sought as the only effective way of protecting the asserted constitutional right.

* Categorizing sovereign immunity as a constitutional issue appears to be strongest in the state-owned patent IPR’s, see, e.g., Pennsylvania v. Union Gas Co., 491 U.S. 1, 7  (1989), as opposed to the tribe-owned patent IPR’s where tribal sovereign immunity might be considered a common law doctrine rather than a constitutional issue.

The Supreme Court in its conference tomorrow will review the petition for writ of certiorari in Lucia v. SEC.  The question presented is whether administrative law judges of the SEC are considered to be  employees or officers of the United States under the Appointments Clause.

I believe the USPTO encountered a similar issue a few years ago.

You can read the petition here: [Link].

Update 1/12/2018:

The Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in this case today.

I sometimes wonder when listening to oral arguments whether judges are straying outside the record.  If you are looking for a topic to write about, a helpful article might address the authority or lack of authority for the Federal Circuit to rely on extra-record evidence.  The Sixth Circuit case of Inland Bulk Transfer Co. v. Cummins Engine Co., 332 F. 3d 1007 (6th Cir. 2003) suggests that there is a split among the circuits on whether circuit courts of appeal possess equitable power to permit supplementation of the record.  In my quick search, I did not find any support either way for whether the Federal Circuit has weighed in on this issue.   A sub-topic of the article might be whether such extra-record evidence is permitted at all for review of agency determinations—e.g., TTAB proceedings—as opposed to district court cases.

There is an interesting new petition for writ of certiorari pending before the Supreme Court of the United States.  The question presented is: