Protest in Support of American Inventors at the US Supreme Court on November 27th During Oral Arguments in Oil States

U.S. Inventor to hold Protest In Support of Petitioner Oil States Energy Services, LLC’s Argument to the U.S. Supreme Court that the America Invents Act is Unconstitutional

Pictured are Paul Morinville (hat), Josh Malone (glasses) and Randy Landreneau.

US Inventor sponsored a protest at the USPTO where inventors burned patents in August. Pictured are Paul Morinville (hat), Josh Malone (glasses) and Randy Landreneau. Photo by Julie Pixler.

U.S. Inventor, the nationwide inventor advocacy organization representing over 13,000 members, including, individual inventors, university research institutions, patent holders and intellectual property dependent start-up businesses, has announced that its members will stage a protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on November 27th during oral arguments in the case of Oil States Energy Services, LLC v Greene’s Energy Group, LLC.

In 2011, Congress passed the inaptly-named America Invents Act (AIA) which ushered in a new regime of post-grant challenges to validly issued patents through the creation of the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (PTAB). The operation of the PTAB has resulted in incalculable damage to American innovation by invalidating more than 90% of patent claims subjected to PTAB review. This wholesale annihilation of patent claims even lead Randall Rader – former Chief Judge of the nation’s patent appeals court – to dub the PTAB a “patent death squad” for American patents. The destruction of patent property rights by the PTAB also resulted in a 2017 U.S. Chamber of Commerce analysis of national patent systems ranking the U.S. patent system as 10th in the world (tied with Hungary); previously, the U.S. patent system had been ranked number one.

Even worse for the American economy and for American technological competitiveness, the inability of American inventors to secure meaningful patent protection for their innovations as a result of the PTAB has led to a marked decline in entrepreneurs starting new businesses. The slump in start-up activity has far-reaching implications for the American economy because start-up businesses have historically been the key drivers in this country of job creation and in the development of cutting-edge technology. As long as the PTAB continues in its mission of invalidating the vast majority of patent claims that it reviews, the reluctance of American inventors to start new businesses and for venture capitalists to invest in these new enterprises will undoubtedly continue.

“Patent rights are grounded in the U.S. Constitution which authorized Congress “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to…inventors the exclusive right to their…discoveries.” “The foresight of the Founding Father in establishing strong patent rights spurred American economic development throughout our history and were critical to technological breakthroughs in fields ranging from transportation and communications to pharmaceuticals.” notes Paul Morinville, the CEO of U.S. Inventor and himself a named inventor on more than 30 U.S. patents and patent applications. “The PTAB has devastated this engine of American prosperity by invalidating patent claims at an alarming rate. Even worse, the PTAB suffers from serious due process issues, including, conflicts of interest by review panel members; “stacking” of review panels to produce desired results; abuses in the consideration of supplementary evidence; denial of patent owners’ ability to respond to arguments against invalidity allegations; and arbitrary and capricious denials of patent holders’ right to amend claims. The U.S. Supreme Court has an opportunity in the Oil States case to undo this damage by declaring the AIA unconstitutional. U.S. Inventor is holding this protest to highlight to the justices and to the public the vital need to abolish the PTAB in order to protect American inventors and American innovation.” added Paul Morinville.

For further information about U.S. Inventor and to register to participate in this protest, please visit us at: http://www.usinventor.org/oil-states-protest/

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2 comments so far.

  • [Avatar for Peter]
    Peter
    October 30, 2017 02:12 am

    I hope very sincerely that persons interested in the resolution of this issue will attend this protest.

  • [Avatar for Durnik]
    Durnik
    October 27, 2017 12:02 pm

    Back in June, this blog published an article citing statistics to answer the question of “Are more than 90 percent of patents challenged at the PTAB defective?” This 90% defective number has since been cited numerous times on this blog. However, in recent articles, this 90% number has morphed into what’s present in this article as “The operation of the PTAB has resulted in incalculable damage to American innovation by invalidating more than 90% of patent claims subjected to PTAB review.”

    What has changed to shift the 90% number from referring to “defective” “patents” (which included settlements) to now “invalidated” “claims” by the PTAB? Are there updated statistics to support this new assertion?