Washington, D.C. Principal Nick Matich was quoted in World Intellectual Property Review's article, "Earthquake Chevron: A Massive Shock to the System?" The article reviews last week's decision striking down the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, which had allowed judges to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law. Stemming from Chevron v Natural Resources Defense Council (1984), the rule held that courts should defer to a federal agency’s “reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute.” Nick states, "For IP practitioners, the overruling of Chevron is not likely to cause major disruptions. USPTO has never had rulemaking authority over the substance of its decisions, for example, obviousness and written description, and agency interpretations have deferred more to courts more than courts have deferred to them."
The full article can be found here.