Overview
(May 10, 2023, Washington DC) – Steptoe client, Judge Michael Fitzpatrick, was vindicated by the Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”) on his claim for improper reassignment as an Administrative Patent Judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The MSBP agreed that the PTAB retaliated against Judge Fitzpatrick following his protected whistleblower disclosures.
In 2018, after making his whistleblower disclosures, Judge Fitzpatrick was removed by PTAB management from his docket of America Invents Act (“AIA”) trials. Judge Fitzpatrick filed an action with the MSPB seeking to reverse the PTAB’s decision. On May 5, 2023, after a full evidentiary hearing, Judge Andrew Niedrick found that Judge Fitzpatrick made protected disclosures when he sought to expose (1) secret panel expansion by PTAB management during an inter partes review involving Nike and Adidas and (2) inaccurate statements that the Patent Office made about panel expansion during oral arguments before the Supreme Court. Judge Niedrick concluded not only that Judge Fitzpatrick was reasonable to believe that PTAB management violated the law, but also that PTAB management, motivated to prevent an embarrassing exposure of PTAB panel expansion practices, concocted pretextual reasons to retaliate against Judge Fitzpatrick for his complaints. The MSPB ordered Judge Fitzpatrick to be reinstated to a docket of exclusively AIA trials.
The Steptoe team representing Judge Fitzpatrick included John Abramic, Robert Kappers, and Christopher A. Suarez.
