Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that may have profound implications for U.S. patent law by abolishing inter partes reviews at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).

In Oil States Energy Services v. Green’s Energy Group, Case 16-712, the patentee—Oil States— had a patent related to “fracking” and sued its competitor, Green’s Energy. In response, Green’s Energy petitioned the USPTO to institute an IPR on the patent. The USPTO instituted the IPR and held the patent claims unpatentable. On review at the Federal Circuit, Oil States challenged the merits of the USPTO’s decision, but it also argued that IPRs were contrary to Article III and the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution. Specifically, Oil States argued that suits to invalidate a patent must be tried before a jury in an Article III court. Oil States argued that the invalidity of patents had traditionally been a jury issue before a court and it was inappropriate for Congress to grant the power to invalidate a patent to an administrative agency. The Federal Circuit summarily affirmed the USPTO’s IPR decision. The summary affirmance implicitly relies on the Court’s prior precedential decision in MCM Portfolio v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 812 F.3d 1284 (Fed. Cir. 2015), which addressed that very issue.