Gavel Grab

The US House of Representatives is set to vote on HR 6362, (Berman, D-28^th CA), a bill granting judicial appointment authority to the Secretary of Commerce. A previous law, PL 106-113, granted appointment power to the director of the Patent and Trademark Office, a provision currently under a fair amount of scrutiny. Back in May, the New York Times wrote about the constitutional flaw brought to light by GW Law School Professor John Duffy in an article (SSRN) originally posted on a patent law blog and further discussed here. The US Supreme Court has also been asked to consider this issue by a company whose patent was rejected.