By: Darren Crew

On April 24, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, No. 16-712, holding that inter partes review (IPR) does not violate Article III or the Seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In 2001, Oil States obtained U.S. Patent No. 6,179 relating to an apparatus for securing a mandrel of a well tool in an operative position. In 2012, Oil States filed an infringement suit against Greene’s Energy in Federal District Court. Greene’s Energy filed an answer, challenging the patent’s validity. Greene’s Energy also petitioned the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, an adjudicatory body within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, to institute inter partes review, arguing that claims 1 and 22 of the patent were unpatentable because they were anticipated by prior art. The Board instituted inter partes review after finding that Greene’s Energy had established a reasonable likelihood that the two claims were unpatentable —click here to read more—