Image Processing Technologies LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co., LTD. et al., Appeal Nos. 2018-2156, 2019-1408, 2019-1485 (Fed. Cir. March 2, 2020).

The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the PTAB’s decisions against Image Processing’s U.S. Patent No. 8,983,134 in IPR2017-00353 and IPR2017-01218. The vacatur and remand was based upon the Federal Circuit’s earlier Arthrex decision, which held that the PTAB judges were improperly appointed under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Arthrex decision from October 2019 is proving to be quite controversial, and the USPTO is seeking an opportunity to have the doctrine reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In this case, the USPTO and the Civil Division of the Department of Justice intervened in the appeals of the Samsung IPRs, and moved for 90-day stays of the mandates while the Solicitor General was considering whether to seek writs of certiorari at the Supreme Court. The mandates were to be issued on March 2, 2020. On March 2, 2020, the Federal Circuit denied the motions to stay without opinion.

For more on the Arthrex decision read our previous post on this topic.