Patent Office Dodges Lawsuit Over ‘Rigged’ Patent Review Board

The US Patent and Trademark Office beat back accusations that its former director and a group of judges rig the intellectual property system against inventors as a Tennessee federal judge dismissed the suit.

Martin David Hoyle, a computer engineer and owner of BE Technology LLC, alleged that the patent office favored Google in challenges to Hoyle’s advertising technology patents in a way that violated his constitutional due process rights. Hoyle appealed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions invalidating his patents to the US Court of Appeals to the Federal Circuit, giving him the opportunity to correct any due process ...