Patent Office Fends Off US Inventor’s Rule Challenge on Appeal

US Inventor lacks standing to challenge the US Patent and Trademark Office’s decision not to pursue a rulemaking pushed by the group to reduce the powers of a patent-reviewing administrative tribunal, the Federal Circuit said.

The patent-rights advocacy group and National Small Business United “lack associational standing because they fail to show that at least one of their members would have standing to sue” due to an actual or imminent injury, wrote Judge Jimmie V. Reyna in a precedential opinion issued Friday by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

US Inventor and NSBU petitioned the agency in ...