Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1434_ancf.pdf
Page Number: 7

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

218, 241 (1832).  The courts would make the initial deter-
mination  of  patent  validity  in  a  subsequent  judicial  pro-
ceeding, such as an infringement suit.  See 1 Stat. 322.  This 
scheme unsurprisingly resulted in the Executive Branch is-
suing many invalid patents and the Judicial Branch having 
to  decide  many  infringement  cases.  See  S. Doc.  No.  338, 
24th Cong., 1st Sess., 3 (1836).  Judge William Van Ness—
who before taking the bench had served as second to Aaron 
Burr in his duel with Alexander Hamilton—lamented that 
Congress  had  left  the  door  “open  and  unguarded”  for  im-
posters to secure patents, with the consequences of “litiga-
tion and endless trouble, if not total ruin, to the true inven-
tor.”  Thompson v. Haight, 23 F. Cas. 1040, 1041–1042 (No. 
13,957) (CC SDNY 1826).  Congress heeded such concerns
by  returning  the  initial  determination  of  patentability  to
the  Executive  Branch,  see  5  Stat.  117–118,  where  it  re-
mains today.

The  present  system  is  administered  by  the  Patent  and 
Trademark  Office  (PTO),  an  executive  agency  within  the 
Department of Commerce “responsible for the granting and
issuing  of  patents”  in  the  name  of  the  United  States.    35 
U. S. C.  §§1(a),  2(a)(1).    Congress  has  vested  the  “powers
and duties” of the PTO in a sole Director appointed by the 
President  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 
§3(a)(1).  As agency head, the Director “provid[es] policy di-
rection and management supervision” for PTO officers and 
employees.  §3(a)(2)(A).

This suit centers on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
(PTAB), an executive adjudicatory body within the PTO es-
tablished by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011.
125  Stat.  313.    The  PTAB  sits  in  panels  of  at  least  three 
members drawn from the Director, the Deputy Director, the 
Commissioner  for  Patents,  the  Commissioner  for  Trade-
marks,  and  more  than  200  Administrative  Patent  Judges
(APJs).  35 U. S. C. §§6(a), (c).  The Secretary of Commerce 
appoints the members of the PTAB (except for the Director),