A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday heard arguments in a case challenging the decision of a patent appeals board on the grounds that two of its members were unconstitutionally appointed.
Larry Jarvis, representing a juice company whose application for a beverage patent was rejected by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in April 2007, wants the Federal Circuit to vacate the board’s decision. The appointment of two of the three patent judges who heard the case violated constitutional law, argued Jarvis of McAndrews Held & Malloy in Chicago, because the director of the Patent and Trademark Office did not have authority to appoint them.
