In the article “An Examination of the Impact of Chevron’s Death on Certain Intellectual Property Laws,” partners Ari Feinstein and Andrea Cheek explore the effects of the Supreme Court’s 2024 Loper decision which overturned the 40-year-old Chevron ruling.
Feinstein and Cheek, both based in Knobbe Martens’ Washington, D.C. office, call the decision in Loper a “seismic legal development” that will surely impact federal agencies involved in intellectual property legal proceedings, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
In overturning Chevron, the Loper ruling eliminated the requirement that courts side with an agency’s interpretation of a statute even if the court disagrees. In their article, Feinstein and Cheek trace the history of Chevron through notable intellectual property proceedings involving the USPTO, ITC, and FDA. They also examine cases in which these agencies were afforded Chevron deference on patent issues and the presiding judges expressly disagreed with the agency’s statutory interpretation.
As the authors maintain, the cases where judges expressed disagreement will be of particular interest if these issues are relitigated in a post-Loper landscape. However, they conclude, “As the Supreme Court clarified in Loper, agencies’ pre-Loper statutory interpretations are entitled to stare decisis. But how that shakes out will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
Read the full article here.
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