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# Inter Partes Process Likely to Continue for Biologics: Attorneys
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/inter-partes-process-likely-to-continue-for-biologics-attorneys/
- Published: 2018-04-25T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T00:00:48.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5141298

A Supreme Court decision in an energy company case held 7-2 that the inter partes review process for reviewing patents does not violate the Constitution. The case is likely to have a bearing on companies seeking to challenge biologic patents.

The Center for Biosimilars [says](http://www.centerforbiosimilars.com/news/landmark-scotus-ruling-upholds-the-inter-partes-review-process?ref=fdaweb.com) it was told by attorney **Christopher Bruno** (Schiff Hardin) that the decision “reaffirms the constitutionality of an administrative process that has been a popular forum for challenging biologics patents. I expect that inter partes review will remain a powerful alternative for companies seeking means other than a lengthy Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act lawsuit to obtain patent certainty.”

Writing for the majority, Justice **Clarence Thomas** said that under legal precedent, Congress has significant latitude to assign adjudication of public rights to entities other than courts, and the inter partes review process “falls squarely within the public-rights doctrine,” because the decision to grant a patent is a matter involving public rights.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice **Neil Gorsuch** wrote that until recently, “most everyone considered an issued patent a personal right, no less than a home or farm, that the federal government could revoke only with the concurrence of independent judges. But in the statute before us, Congress has tapped an executive agency, the Patent and Trademark Office, for the job.”