Quillin Opines on Arthrex Oral Arguments

Partner George E. Quillin was quoted in the IP Watchdog article, “Amici and Practitioners Attempt to Read the Arthrex Tea Leaves” about oral arguments in the closely-watched U.S. Supreme Court patent case, United States / Smith & Nephew v. Arthrex. 

Quillin told IP Watchdog: “A decision with the least immediate impact would be one in which the Court agrees with the government and Smith & Nephew that Administrative Patent Judges (APJ) have been inferior officers all along. Hence, there would be no need to for a judicial fix to anything, and the APJs and the PTAB would continue to operate just as contemplated in the American Invents Act. Yet such a decision could have very significant long-term implications on for the country beyond patent law. As Justice Kavanaugh explained during oral argument, ‘What I’m worried about is this gives a model for Congress to eliminate agency review of ALJ decisions  . . . that would allow Congress to give extraordinary power to inferior officers, which is not how our government is ordinarily structured.’”