Whatever your view of patents, those of us who represent the struggling inventors of our day have seen a Supreme Court that does not seem to understand patents or patent law, or the struggles of inventors and the benefits they bring to our society. But today, Justice Gorsuch writes a powerful dissent in Oil States, as well as the majority opinion in SAS. While only Justice Roberts agreed with his dissent, Gosuch's dissent will move any patent attorney with enough experience to have seen the ills of governmental bureaucracy overstepping its bounds. 

In Oil States, Gorsuch captures the real-world impact perfectly when relating the deadly efficiency of the PTAB as being open to political abuse:

No doubt this efficient scheme is well intended. But can there be any doubt that it also represents a retreat from the promise of judicial independence? Or that when an independent Judiciary gives ground to bureaucrats in the adjudication of cases, the losers will often prove the un-popular and vulnerable? Powerful interests are capable of amassing armies of lobbyists and lawyers to influence (and even capture) politically accountable bureaucracies. But what about everyone else?

Well I guess when that everyone else is a small company or small inventor, they will have to wait for a more enlightened Supreme Court or Congress to bring some balance back to the system. 

Gorsuch goes on with a very well-reasoned analysis as to why he would have rejected the constitutionality of the PTAB. Everyone should read his dissent and at least think about the fundamental issues and how this affects people's lives.