Peter v. NantKwest, Inc.

Decided December 11, 2019. Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 18-801 · 589 U.S. 23 (2019) · Cited 70 times

Holding

The Patent and Trademark Office cannot recover the salaries of its legal personnel as “expenses” in civil actions brought by patent applicants pursuant to 35 U. S. C. §145.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Sebelius v. Cloer · 569 U.S. 369 (2013)
• Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society · 421 U.S. 240 (1975)
• Baker Botts L.L.P. v. ASARCO LLC · 576 U.S. 121 (2015)
• Kappos v. Hyatt · 566 U.S. 431 (2012)
• West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey · 499 U.S. 83 (1991)
• Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club · 463 U.S. 680 (1983)
• Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. · 560 U.S. 242 (2010)
• United States v. Rodgers · 461 U.S. 677 (1983)
• Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd. · 566 U.S. 560 (2012)
• Key Tronic Corp. v. United States · 511 U.S. 809 (1994)
• Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy · 548 U.S. 291 (2006)
• Rimini Street, Inc. v. Oracle USA, Inc. · 586 U.S. 334 (2019)
• Summit Valley Industries, Inc. v. Local 112, United Brotherhood of Carpenters · 456 U.S. 717 (1982)
• Arcambel v. Wiseman · 3 U.S. 306 (1796)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

Sonia Sotomayor’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2019). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).