By Ben Koopferstock (August 30, 2017, 5:31 PM EDT) -- In its U.S. Supreme Court brief filed Aug. 24, 2017, petitioner Oil States Energy Services argues that the inter partes review procedure created in 2012 by the America Invents Act is unconstitutional because Congress cannot delegate the power to invalidate granted patents to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. One hurdle that Oil States faces is the fact that the PTO has been invalidating patents for over 30 years through ex parte re-examination, and more recently through inter partes re-examination. The patent at issue in Oil States was invalidated through inter partes review, so Oil States only needs the court to find that IPR is unconstitutional — not these other re-examination proceedings. Because re-examination proceedings have been in force for a longer period of time, the court might hesitate to rule in such a way that renders these proceedings unconstitutional....