By Kevin E. Noonan — Last fall, the Federal Circuit decided in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. that Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) serving on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) were principal officers and thus had been improperly appointed under the Appointments Clause, and accordingly vacated a PTAB determination in an inter partes review proceeding and remanded for consideration by a panel of properly appointed APJs (see “Federal Circuit Holds APJs Are Principal Officers”). Thereafter, in Polaris Innovations Ltd. v. Kingston Technology Co., the Federal Circuit relied on its Arthrex decision to vacate and remand a PTAB…
