After trying to untie the Gordian knot of patent eligibility, it is almost IP comfort food to read a Fed. Cir. decision that deals with obviousness. In Chemours Co. FC, LLC v Daikin Industries, Ltd., Appeal Nos. 2020-1289 and 2020-1290 (Fed. Cir., July 22, 2021) a split panel of Reyna (writing) and Newman (Happy Birthday!) with Dyk dissenting, reversed a PTAB final written decision that a co-polymer useful for coating cables at high extrusion speeds (30 +/- 3 g/10 minutes) is obvious. Claim 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,126,609 reads:
[The USPTO’s] webpage houses useful information regarding the implementation of an interim Director review process in Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings following Arthrex.
Background
On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., Nos. 19-1434, 19-1452, 19-1458, 2021 WL 2519433, addressing the Constitution’s appointments clause as it relates to PTAB administrative patent judges (APJs). The court considered whether APJs are “principal officers” who must be appointed by the President with the Senate’s advice and consent, or, as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the U.S. government argued, whether they are “inferior officers” who can be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.
