The America Invents Act created a new vehicle for challengers to attach patents: the Inter-Parties Reexamination or “IPR”. In the case of Oil States Energy Services LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, Oil States contended that the newly created IPR was unconstitutional because it comprised the adjudication of rights by the USPTO rather than an Article III court, and for violating the right to a jury trial. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of IPR’s, finding that patents are public rights which may be adjudicated by the USPTO rather than an Article III court (and because of such, no right to a jury trial exists).
