Google Takes Fight Over Patent Office Rules to the Supreme Court

Google LLC is taking its fight with the US Patent and Trademark Office over procedural moves that have made it harder to challenge a patent’s validity to the US Supreme Court

The tech giant Monday became the first company to seek high court review of steps taken by Trump administration appointees that have significantly raised the bar for challenging patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Specifically, Google’s petition attacks a new prescreening rule called settled expectations, under which PTO Director John Squires has rejected numerous validity challenges to patents more than six years into their 20-year terms.

“The ...