United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals

The United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) began as the United States Court of Customs Appeals, created in 1909 by the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of August 5, 1909, and it began its work the following year, on April 22, 1910. Five judges for the new court were appointed by President Taft, Robert M. Montgomery, William H. Hunt, James F. Smith, Orion M. Barber and Marion De Vries. The jurisdiction was appeals from decisions of the Board of General Appraisers, and originally no further appellate review was permitted. This changed in 1914, when writ of certiorari by the United States Supreme Court was allowed.

In 1929 the court's name was changed to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals by an enactment that conferred upon it appeals from the United States Patent Office. These appeals included ex parte patent cases, appeals from interference proceedings, and trademark cases, appeals which theretofore had been heard in United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1930 the court moved into the Internal Revenue Service Building and remained there until 1967. In the 1929 case Ex Parte Bakelite Corporation, 279 U.S. 438, the Supreme Court held that the CCPA was an court formed under Article I of the Constitution. This situation was not addressed by Congress until 1958 when a law was passed deeming it an Article III court, which was upheld subsequently by the Supreme Court.

In 1982 the CCPA was abolished by the Federal Courts Improvement Act, and its jursdiction, docket and judges were transferred to the Federal Circuit.

Bibliography

A brief history of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals / by Giles S. Rich. Washington, D.C. : Published by authorization of Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States : U.S. G.P.O., 1980.