Patent Office Keeps Records Win Over Inventor at Fourth Circuit

The US Patent and Trademark Office can withhold draft decisions of an agency tribunal in response to inventor Josh Malone’s records request, the Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday.

Malone, a volunteer with patent-rights group US Inventor, filed two Freedom of Information Act requests in February 2023: one for records relating to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s handling of validity challenges brought by Apple Inc. one for similar records from a proceeding initiated by Palo Alto Networks Inc.

The PTO provided 1,439 pages of documents in response to Malone’s request but withheld draft validity decisions, which the US Court of Appeals ...