(January 13, 2016, 2:29 PM EST) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — Neither 35 U.S. Code Section 314 nor the U.S. Constitution stands as a bar to the practice by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeals Board of allowing panels that institute inter partes review (IPR) from later deciding the question of patent validity, a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 13 (Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. v. Covidien LP, No. 14-1771, Fed. Cir.)....