Patent Office Defends Agency Director’s Discretion in Appeal

The US Patent and Trademark Office defended its authority to turn away challenges to litigated patents and urged the Federal Circuit to reject Motorola Solutions Inc.'s bid to upend its newly-implemented procedures.

Motorola’s statutory and Constitutional arguments targeting the Trump administration’s adoption of processes for discretionary denial of patent validity challenges both fall short, the PTO said in a response brief filed Monday.

The court should apply the Patent Act’s provision barring appellate review of inter partes review institution decisions at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to Motorola’s contentions that the agency violated the Administrative Procedures Act, the PTO ...