Google Comes Up Short in Bid to Lower Bar for Patent Challenges

Google LLC lost its bid to have the Federal Circuit cut back a Trump administration procedural shift that makes it harder for companies sued for patent infringement to challenge the validity of patents at a US Patent and Trademark Office tribunal.

The tech giant took issue with a factor used by the PTO’s director to turn away validity challenges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when they target patents that have been in force for more than six years. Google in January 2025 sought to administratively knock out as obvious two 14-year-old patents belonging to VirtaMove Corp. covering methods ...