By James Lovsin — Today, the Supreme Court granted petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the Federal Circuit’s decision in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., in which the court of appeals held how administrative patent judges were appointed to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution (Art. II, sec. 2, cl. 2). To prospectively remedy that violation, the court severed a portion of the America Invents Act restricting the way APJs can be removed, and vacated and remanded the PTAB’s judgment for a new hearing. The Federal Circuit denied…
