Difference between revisions of "USA patent courts and appeals"

Revision as of 08:41, 17 April 2010

This article describes which bodies handle approval, rejection, and disputes of patent validity in the USA.

Patents are granted by the USPTO
Disputes can be taken to the USPTO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI)
(To contest a BPAI decision - where?)

When you sue someone for patent infringement, the validity of the patent can be called into question, and this litigation is in a District Court
- When suing someone, you might also apply to the International Trade Commission to have imports of their products blocked

To contest this ruling, you go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)
- When the CAFC hears a case en banc, this means that all the judges participated, not just a subset; this is usually done for important cases where the CAFC wants to set a precedent
To contest the CAFC's ruling, you can apply to the Supreme Court (or sometimes "SCOTUS")
- This is called applying for certiorari
If the Supreme Court grants certiorari, they will rule on it with the highest authority of the USA

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 * Disputes can be taken to the USPTO's ''[[Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences]]'' (BPAI)
 * (To contest a BPAI decision - where?)
 * When you sue someone for patent infringement, the validity of the patent can be called into question, and this litigation is in a District Court
 ** When suing someone, you might also apply to the [[United States International Trade Commission|International Trade Commission]] to have imports of their products blocked
 * To contest this ruling, you go to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit]] (CAFC)