Whether administrative patent judges are principal or inferior officers under the Appointments Clause

QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Whether, for purposes of the Appointments Clause, US. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2, administrative patent judges of the United States Patent and Trademark Office are principal officers who must be appointed by the President with the Senate’s advice and consent, or “inferior Officers” whose appointment Congress has permissibly vested in a department head. 2. Whether the court of appeals erred by adjudicating the patent owner’s Appointments Clause challenge, even though it did not present that challenge to the agency.