The US Supreme Court’s October 2023 term will come to a close later this month. The patent side has not seen much action in terms of new cases. 27 IP-related petitions for writ of certiorari have been filed during this time. Of those 23 have been denied. Four recently filed petitions are still pending. In each of the remaining cases, respondent has indicated that it will be filing a brief.
- Cellect, LLC v. Vidal (23-1231): Whether a patent procured in good faith can be invalidated for obviousness-type double patenting when the improper term extension is due to Patent Term Adjustment. NYIPLA amicus in support; USPTO responsive brief due: July 22, 2024.
- Chestek PLLC v. Vidal (23-1217): Whether the USPTO is exempt from notice-and-comment requirements when exercising its rulemaking power under 35 U.S.C. § 2(b)(2). USPTO responsive brief due: July 15, 2024.
- Eolas Technologies Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. (23-1184): Patent eligibility issues. Responsive brief due: July 31, 2024.
- Surti v. Fleet Engineers, Inc. (23-1142): Pro se patent owner focused on DoE as well as tortious interference. Responsive brief due: July 22, 2024.
I’ve listed these in what I see as the most to least likely grant. Cellect is of particular interest as debates over double patenting continue. Based upon the timing of the briefs, a certiorari decision won’t come until the Fall.
I would be absolutely floored if the Court took a pro se patent case. It might be the first ever.
Kyle Persaud, Pro Se Litigants in the U.S. Supreme Court: How Do They Fare?, 55 ST. MARY’S L.J. 61 (2024).
Available at: link to commons.stmarytx.edu
This guy is a perfect example of how our patent system is totally broken, totally rigged and how it discourages invention by anyone (including small companies) and how our legal system is ‘also broken’ & in cahoots with existing industries, large corporations & monopolies, in order to ‘protect them’ from all claims of infringement or wrongdoing!
Name me one famous and rich ‘independent’ inventor in the last 20 or even 30 years! Name me even one famous independent inventor who isn’t broke now! It’s just not possible anymore! No more Edisons, Teslas, Bells, or Wright Brothers. The USPTO & the courts have now MADE SURE they CAN’T and WON’T exist in America anymore, because they would disrupt things too much and cause too much competition for existing entities who don’t want to have to pay ANY royalties or buy any products from outside innovators. They could care less if every single inventor in America went extinct! They would celebrate that day! They want indepedant inventors to become extinct, as soon as possible. The AIA was supposed to help do that but I guess not fast enough for them! Maybe American inventors should head to some other country now? Maybe china should start ‘recruiting’ them and pay them a nice annual wage.
Mr. Surti has gotten totally screwed by the courts and his infringer & he will never win his case – because that’s not possible anymore! It’s just not possible anymore, especially if you are a pro se litigant. That’s how lawyers want it too. They don’t like competition either. Surti has done an excellent job representing himself, given he never went to law school.
And, by the way, he originally did retain lawyers and probably paid them a huge amount of money. In the end, he just got a net $25,000 awarded to him for infringement, after the infringers were awarded $200K for lost profits, which he could not even claim! In addition the court didn’t award him the legal fees he wanted the infringers to pay. So he actually lost a lot of money, going with lawyers, which he’s now trying to recoup Pro Se. What would you expect him to do if he’s not rich?
I’m on his side. The company he sued clearly & intentionally infringed his patent after they indicated they saw his ‘application’ before it was granted a patent. That’s why no independent inventor should ever allow publication of their application until it is actually granted a ‘good’ patent. Junk patents should always be rejected, whether obtained by an attorney or pro se. They are totally worthless. Even good patents are basically worthless now, unless you have millions to defend them & infringers know this well now! Quit defending them. They are IP crooks & don’t care. Not to mention China!
Won’t be last!
I would guess that none of these are granted.
My guess is that Chestek v. Vidal might gain some interest as it could be used as a check against the ‘administrative state.’
The rest have little chance as they involve inventors being wronged and inventors are a disfavored class at the Supreme Court.
In ANY court!!! He’s lucky he got anything even in District Court. That goes for almost any ‘David’s’ now! The courts are rigged to let defendants get off easy using even the tiniest sliver of dubious arguments that could be in their favor. It’s become almost impossible to impose harsh penalties on defendants in civil cases. Don’t know why, but that’s how things are now. 100’s of hours of attorney time is spent finding legal ‘escape tactics’ to otherwise solid evidence of a defendant’s guilt! All that money could instead just go straight to the plaintiff and so avoid all that wasted time and money. It’s all a big game that only benefits lawyers and is why many lawyers now leave the profession or decide not to even go into it, once they see how the ‘legal sausage’ gets made and used. It’s not pretty and always hurts the little guy/gal now! Lawyers always find a way to weasel out of a guilty verdict in the end.
Presumably, SCOTUS will want to leave some space on the docket for the inevitable emergency Trump-law cases coming this summer.
Why? They’ll probably will decide in his favor anyway (if there’s any way POSSIBLE to do it), so it shouldn’t take too much of their time.
Good guess! The little guy can’t be ‘allowed to win’ in America anymore! Not like 100 years ago! Society celebrated when that happened then. Not anymore. Soon no one (including lawyers) will have any value anymore EXCEPT maybe inventors! And that would be pretty ironic, wouldn’t it?!
Society only cares about the ‘actual rich’ now, not those who might merit being rich! No one cares how many patents Elon Musk has or doesn’t have (which I think is none). They do care how much money he has and what he can do with that and how much power that gives him. Inventors have NO POWER anymore, regardless how many patents they might get. I don’t think most of them realize that yet! It’s time they do, before they all go broke. Why be an inventor in America anymore? You just can never win; either at the PTO or in the courts! It’s all a huge waste of time & money, only helping to support the PTO and enrich lawyers. I’d rather enrich inventors (and thereby spread the wealth too). They deserve it!