Dickinson v. Zurko, 527 U.S. 150, 3 (1999)

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152

DICKINSON v. ZURKO

Opinion of the Court

Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) sets forth standards governing judicial review of findings of fact made by federal administrative agencies. 5 U. S. C. § 706. We must decide whether § 706 applies when the Federal Circuit reviews findings of fact made by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). We conclude that it does apply, and the Federal Circuit must use the framework set forth in that section.

I

Section 706, originally enacted in 1946, sets forth standards that govern the "Scope" of court "review" of, e. g., agency factfinding (what we shall call court/agency review). It says that a

"reviewing court shall—

. . . . . "(2) hold unlawful and set aside agency . . . findings . . . found to be—

"(A) arbitrary, capricious, [or] an abuse of discretion, or . . .

. . . . . "(E) unsupported by substantial evidence in a case subject to sections 556 and 557 of this title or otherwise reviewed on the record of an agency hearing provided by statute; . . .

. . . . .

M. Wexler and Howard B. Barnaby; for the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia by Lynn Eccleston, David W. Long, and Harold Wegner; for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America by Gerald J. Mossinghoff; and for John P. Sutton, pro se.

Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Dallas-Fort Worth Intellectual Property Law Association by D. Scott Hemingway; and for Intellectual Property Creators et al. by David Roy Pressman, pro se.

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