[Panel 3] WG10 Commentary on The Evolving Relationship Between Federal Courts and Administrative Agencies

The issue of which types of patent actions and decisions by administrative agencies may be reviewed by the courts, and if so, under what deference or terms, has been the subject of an extraordinary amount of judicial activity recently. Two Supreme Court cases (Cuozzo and SAS) addressed these issues squarely, as have two highly fractured en banc Federal Circuit decisions (Aqua Products and WiFi One). More appear imminent. Appeals from the PTO and the ITC to the Federal Circuit have now eclipsed appeals from the district court; how the various administrative and judicial tribunals' decisions and rulings will be honored, bound, or estopped over one another has grown increasingly fraught. As this complex web of law develops, this drafting team will be examining these issues from both a patent and administrative law perspective, as the two grow increasingly entwined.