Peter v. NantKwest Inc.

Docket No.	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
18-801	Oct 7, 2019	Dec 11, 2019	9-0	Sotomayor	OT 2019

Holding: The PTO cannot recover the salaries of its legal personnel under Section 145 of the Patent Act.

Judgment: Affirmed, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Sotomayor on December 11, 2019.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Opinion analysis: Court makes short work of easy case: Government cannot collect in-house attorneys fees from litigant challenging denial of patent application (Ronald Mann, December 11, 2019)
A view from the courtroom: Two-minute warning (Mark Walsh, October 7, 2019)
Argument analysis: Justices seem hesitant to award attorneys fees to government in litigation challenging denial of patent applications (Ronald Mann, October 7, 2019)
Argument preview: Justices to consider fee awards in litigation challenging denial of patent applications (CORRECTED) (Ronald Mann, September 30, 2019)
Justices add patent-fees case to next terms docket (Amy Howe, March 4, 2019)
Petitions of the week (Aurora Barnes, February 8, 2019)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
10/04/2018	Application (18A369) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 25, 2018 to November 23, 2018, submitted to The Chief Justice.
10/05/2018	Application (18A369) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until November 23, 2018.
11/13/2018	Application (18A369) to extend further the time from November 23, 2018 to December 21, 2018, submitted to The Chief Justice.
11/14/2018	Application (18A369) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until December 21, 2018.
12/21/2018	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 22, 2019)
01/22/2019	Brief of respondent NantKwest, Inc. in opposition filed.
02/04/2019	Reply of petitioner Andrei Iancu filed.
02/06/2019	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/22/2019.
02/25/2019	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/1/2019.
03/04/2019	Petition GRANTED.
03/26/2019	Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
04/03/2019	Motion to extend the time to file the briefs on the merits is granted. The time to file joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including May 17, 2019. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 15, 2019.
05/08/2019	Letter of substitution of petitioner received.
05/17/2019	Brief of petitioner Laura Peter, Deputy Director, Patent and Trademark Office, filed.
05/17/2019	Joint appendix filed.
05/23/2019	Brief amicus curiae of R Street Institute filed.
05/24/2019	Brief amicus curiae of Federal Circuit Bar Association in support of neither party filed.
06/25/2019	Brief amicus curiae of New York Intellectual Property Law Association filed.
07/01/2019	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, October 7, 2019.
07/15/2019	Brief of respondent NantKwest, Inc. filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of The American Bar Association filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of Intellectual Property Owners Association filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of The Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amici curiae of The Association of Amicus Counsel, et al. filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of The International Trademark Association filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of American Intellectual Property Law Association filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of Association of the Bar of the City of New York filed.
07/22/2019	Brief amicus curiae of IEEE-USA filed.
08/01/2019	CIRCULATED
08/14/2019	Reply of petitioner Laura Peter, Deputy Director, Patent and Trademark Office filed. (Distributed)
08/16/2019	Record requested from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit.
08/27/2019	Complete record located on PACER (U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit and U.S.D.C. Eastern Dist, VA).
10/07/2019	Argued. For petitioner: Malcolm L. Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent: Mr. Morgan Chu, Los Angeles, Cal.
12/11/2019	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Sotomayor, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
01/13/2020	JUDGMENT ISSUED.