Federal Circuit Axes IGT Gaming Patent Challenged by Zynga (1)

The Federal Circuit declined to revive an invalidated gaming patent owned by IGT PLC, confirming the narrow nature of the path to appeal the US Patent and Trademark Office’s decisions whether to launch validity reviews.

The decision Tuesday comes as several tech companies are pursuing appellate challenges to a new Trump administration process that has ramped up the percentage of companies whose validity challenges are turned away by the PTO director without reaching the merits of their petitions.

US Supreme Court precedent “might allow inquiry” into whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “engaged in ‘shenanigans’ not in accordance ...