Supreme Court to Determine if Patent Appeal Board Used by Apple is Unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court will today hear arguments about whether the systems used by technology companies, including Apple and Google, to invalidate patents and see off litigation are unconstitutional (via Bloomberg).

United States Supreme Court Building

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), set up by Congress in 2011, has invalidated more than 2,000 patents. Apple is the single biggest user of the patent review board, having successfully attacked as many as 200 patents through it, and has said that it relies on "Congress's promise of a fair and efficient forum to challenge what often prove to be woefully weak patents that should not have issued in the first instance." Other users of the PTAB include Intel, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and Samsung.

The PTAB has been dubbed a "death squad" due to its tendency to toss out patents, and some smaller inventors believe that the board has become an anticompetitive tool for large companies. It is alleged that the PTAB's judges may be serving in violation of the Constitution due to the amount of power they wield.

According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles most patent disputes, PTAB judges have important enough powers that they should be appointed directly by the president and confirmed by the Senate as "principal officers."

On the other hand, the Justice Department is urging the Supreme Court to leave the current system in place, saying that patent judges are "inferior officers" who do not need to be presidential appointees.

The Supreme Court could go as far as to bar the board from continuing to review and invalidate patents until changes to the appointment system are made, or shut down the PTAB entirely, forcing Congress to create a new board that more clearly caters to the needs of smaller inventors and patent owners. A ruling against the board could mean that hundreds of patent cases would have to be reconsidered, which could have considerable ramifications for companies that have used it successfully.

The PTAB survived a challenge at the Supreme Court in 2018, in a ruling which found that the panel was not unconstitutionally wielding powers that belong to the courts, but amid increasing scrutiny on the power of big tech companies and antitrust cases, there is a chance that things may pan out differently this time.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...

Top Rated Comments

nt5672 Avatar
57 months ago
Not sure which is better, but I do know that making the appointment political has its own set of problems.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PinkyMacGodess Avatar
57 months ago
A board that seeks to eliminate the power of patent trolls is seeing their future clouded? Who couldn't see that happening.

It'd be like someone writing a bill to end hedge funds, the headwind would be worse than the 'wind' speed on Neptune ('https://www.weather.gov/fsd/neptune')! People from everywhere would be crawling out from under rocks not discovered yet to try to end that legislation. Or ending 'dark money' in politics. It used to be Social Security as the untouchable ;third rail' of politics, and now it's the money flow into politics. With the richest Congress in American history.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MauiPa Avatar
57 months ago
would it be too much to ask to have Congress do its job and fix the mess that has become patents? Oh, when I say it out loud, it does sound absurd
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rob_2811 Avatar
57 months ago
Google and Apple anticompetitive, surely not?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
v3rlon Avatar
57 months ago
We need the patent mess fixed.

Inventors of new and original works deserve compensation.

Obvious processes simply done on computer should not be used by trolls.

The patent shouldn’t stifle innovation (wait till Covid dust settles and the vaccine companies go after each other).

There needs to be a way to effectively penalize the people who try to abuse the system, whether that is trolling with lame patents or deep pockets trying to outspend small patent
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
whooleytoo Avatar
57 months ago
So, is the Patent Trial and Appeal Board the "anti-Eastern District of Texas district court"?

You need a weak/overly vague patent enforced? Go to Texas.
You need a potentially valid patent overturned? Go to the PTAB.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)