In Re VOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA, INC.
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Dismissed
Volkswagen petitioned for a writ of mandamus after the USPTO Director exercised his discretion to deny institution of an inter partes review of a Longhorn Automotive patent. Arguing that the Director’s unbounded discretion violates the constitutional non-delegation doctrine, Volkswagen sought vacatur of the non-institution decision. The 13th Circuit denied the petition, holding that the Director’s decision whether to institute IPR is an executive, not legislative, act and therefore poses no non-delegation problem.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether Congress's delegation of discretion to a federal agency to choose whether to institute in-agency adjudicatory proceedings violates the constitutional non-delegation doctrine.
Circuit Positions
Agency discretion to choose an in-house forum constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power.
Agency discretion to institute (or decline to institute) in-house proceedings is an executive function and does not violate the non-delegation doctrine.
Conflict Summary
The Fifth Circuit (in Jarkesy v. SEC) held that Congress unconstitutionally delegated legislative power to the SEC by permitting the agency to decide whether to bring enforcement actions in-house or in Article III courts, while the Third Circuit (in Axalta Coating Sys. LLC v. FAA) and the 13th Circuit in this case view such discretion as an exercise of executive, not legislative, power that does not offend the non-delegation doctrine.