Professor Mossoff's Briefs Cited By Gorsuch In Oil State Dissent

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 7 to 2 decision in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, and upheld the Constitutionality of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Justice Neil Gorsuch, in writing the dissent for the decision (joined by Chief Justice John Roberts), heavily cited Scalia Law Professor Adam Mossoff.

Justice Gorsuch took issue with the idea that a political appointee and his administrative agents, instead of an independent judge, may resolve patent disputes. Cited in the dissent were Professor Mossoff’s papers on early American patent law and how the ideas of John Locke were behind the evolution of patents for inventions.

Upon the announcement of the court's decision, Professor Mossoff released a statement saying that the ruling “turns the Constitution and the U.S. patent system on their heads.”

READ THE COURT’S OPINIONS READ PROFESSOR MOSSOFF’S STATEMENT