The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken: challenging U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rulings no longer carries an automatic price tag. The USPTO’s contention that, win or lose, challengers of its decisions must pay the USPTO’s attorney fees, is no longer valid.

On Dec. 11, 2019 in the matter of Peter, Deputy Director, USPTO v. NantKwest, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2018 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal that the USPTO’s position violates the American Rule, which provides that each party to litigation will bear its own attorney fees absent a contractual prevailing party provision or a statute which specifically and explicitly shifts fees. This tenet of U.S. law is known as the American Rule because it differs from British law, which routinely imposes the victor’s fees upon the losing litigant.