The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute that should clear up rules surrounding the inter partes review procedure at the US Patent and Trademark Office. In a notice published on May 22, the court accepted software company SAS Institute’s petition for a writ of certiorari. The dispute, SAS Institute v Lee,?hinges on section 35 of the US Patent Code and the procedure surrounding IPRs.
At issue is whether the America Invents Act, which created the Patent Trial and Appeal Board—at which IPR disputes are heard—can allow an IPR to be partially instituted or if the board has to honour a plaintiff’s entire claim. A partial institution would mean that in any given dispute the PTAB could consider the patent claims that it chooses rather than all of the claims to have been challenged.

Source: WIPR