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Page Number: 5

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THRYV, INC. v. CLICK-TO-CALL TECHNOLOGIES, LP 

Opinion of the Court 

response to a petition from Thryv, Inc., resulting in the can-
cellation of several patent claims.  Patent owner Click-to-
Call  Technologies,  LP,  appealed,  contending  that  Thryv’s 
petition was untimely under §315(b).

The question before us: Does §314(d)’s bar on judicial re-
view of the agency’s decision to institute inter partes review
preclude  Click-to-Call’s  appeal?    Our  answer  is  yes.  The 
agency’s  application  of  §315(b)’s  time  limit,  we  hold,  is 
closely  related  to  its  decision  whether  to  institute  inter 
partes review and is therefore rendered nonappealable by
§314(d). 

I 
The  Patent  and  Trademark  Office  has  several  ways  “to
reexamine—and perhaps cancel—a patent claim that it had 
previously  allowed.”  Cuozzo  Speed  Technologies,  LLC  v. 
Lee, 579 U. S. ___, ___ (2016) (slip op., at 3).  Congress es-
tablished the procedure at issue here, inter partes review,
in  the  Leahy-Smith  America  Invents  Act  (AIA),  125  Stat.
284,  enacted  in  2011.    See  35  U. S. C.  §311  et seq.   Inter 
partes  review  allows  third  parties  to  challenge  patent
claims  on  grounds  of  invalidity  specified  by  statute. 
§311(b).

For inter partes review to proceed, the agency must agree
to institute review.  §314.  Any person who is not the pat-
ent’s owner may file a petition requesting inter partes re-
view.  §311(a).  The patent owner may oppose institution of 
inter partes review, asserting the petition’s “failure . . . to 
meet any requirement of this chapter.”  §313.

The  AIA  sets  out  prerequisites  for  institution.    Among
them, “[t]he Director may not authorize an inter partes re-
view  to  be  instituted  unless  the  Director  determines  . . . 
that  there  is  a  reasonable  likelihood  that  the  petitioner 
would prevail with respect to at least 1 of the claims chal-
lenged in the petition.”  §314(a).  Most pertinent to this case,