Cite as: 527 U. S. 150 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
"What," asked Justice Brewer for the Court, "is the rule which should control the [reviewing] court in the determination of this case?" Ibid. Is it that the Patent Office decision "should stand unless the testimony shows beyond any reasonable doubt that the plaintiff was the first inventor"? Id., at 123. The Court then cited two cases standing for such a "reasonable doubt" standard. Ibid. (citing Cantrell v. Wallick, 117 U. S. 689, 695 (1886), and Coffin v. Ogden, 18 Wall. 120, 124 (1874)). The Court found the two cases "closely in point." 153 U. S., at 123. Justice Brewer wrote that a person "challenging the priority awarded by the Patent Office . . . should . . . be held to as strict proof. " Ibid. (emphasis added). The Court, pointing out that the Circuit Court had used language "not quite so strong" (namely, "a clear and undoubted preponderance of proof"), thought that the Circuit Court's standard sounded more like the rule used by "an appellate court in reviewing findings of fact made by the trial court." Ibid. The Court then wrote:
"But this is something more than a mere appeal. It is an application to the court to set aside the action of one of the executive departments of the government. . . . A new proceeding is instituted in the courts . . . to set aside the conclusions reached by the administrative department . . . . It is . . . not to be sustained by a mere preponderance of evidence. . . . It is a controversy between two individuals over a question of fact which has once been settled by a special tribunal, entrusted with full power in the premises. As such it might be well argued, were it not for the terms of this statute, that the decision of the patent office was a finality upon every matter of fact." Id., at 124 (emphasis added).
The Court, in other words, reasoned strongly that a court/ court review standard is not proper; that standard is too strict; a somewhat weaker standard of review is appropriate.
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