Cite as: 527 U. S. 150 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
"In making the foregoing determinations, the court shall review the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party . . . ."
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a) sets forth standards that govern appellate court review of findings of fact made by a district court judge (what we shall call court/court review). It says that the appellate court shall set aside those findings only if they are "clearly erroneous." Traditionally, this court/court standard of review has been considered somewhat stricter (i. e., allowing somewhat closer judicial review) than the APA's court/agency standards. 2 K. Davis & R. Pierce, Administrative Law Treatise § 11.2, p. 174 (3d ed. 1994) (hereinafter Davis & Pierce). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit believes that it should apply the "clearly erroneous" standard when it reviews findings of fact made by the PTO. In re Zurko, 142 F. 3d 1447, 1459 (1998) (case below). The Commissioner of Patents, the PTO's head, believes to the contrary that ordinary APA court/agency standards apply. See, e. g., In re Kemps, 97 F. 3d 1427, 1430-1431 (CA Fed. 1996); In re Napier, 55 F. 3d 610, 614 (CA Fed. 1995); In re Brana, 51 F. 3d 1560, 1568-1569 (CA Fed. 1995).
The case before us tests these two competing legal views. Respondents applied for a patent upon a method for increasing computer security. The PTO patent examiner concluded that respondents' method was obvious in light of prior art, and so it denied the application. See 35 U. S. C. § 103 (1994 ed., Supp. III). The PTO's review board (the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences) upheld the examiner's decision. Respondents sought review in the Federal Circuit, where a panel treated the question of what the prior art teaches as one of fact, and agreed with respondents that the PTO's factual finding was "clearly erroneous." In re Zurko, 111 F. 3d 887, 889, and n. 2 (1997).
The Federal Circuit, hoping definitively to resolve the review-standard controversy, then heard the matter en banc.
153
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007