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Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 18–916 
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THRYV, INC., FKA DEX MEDIA, INC., PETITIONER v. 
CLICK-TO-CALL TECHNOLOGIES, LP, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT 

[April 20, 2020] 

JUSTICE GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court.* 
Inter partes review is an administrative process in which
a  patent  challenger  may  ask  the  U. S.  Patent  and  Trade-
mark  Office  (PTO)  to  reconsider  the  validity  of  earlier
granted patent claims.  This case concerns a statutorily pre-
scribed limitation of the issues a party may raise on appeal 
from an inter partes review proceeding.

When  presented  with  a  request  for  inter  partes  review,
the  agency  must  decide  whether  to  institute  review.  35 
U. S. C. §314.  Among other conditions set by statute, if the 
request comes more than a year after suit against the re-
questing  party  for  patent  infringement,  “[a]n  inter  partes
review may not be instituted.”  §315(b).  “The determination 
by the [PTO] Director whether to institute an inter partes 
review under this section shall be final and nonappealable.” 
§314(d).†

In this case, the agency instituted inter partes review in 

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*JUSTICE  THOMAS  and  JUSTICE  ALITO join  all  but  Part  III–C  of  this 

opinion.

† Key statutory provisions are reproduced in an appendix to this opin-

ion.