It was a tiny change, hidden in an omnibus bill Congress enacted in 1999. But nine years later it is threatening to create havoc for the U.S. patent system.
At the time, the legislative provision seemed unimportant. It slightly altered the process for appointing administrative law judges to serve on the PTO’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI), which hears appeals of the decisions made by patent examiners. The 1999 law provided that as of March 2000, new BPAI judges would no longer be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.
