Patent Office Urges Denial of SAP Challenge to Director’s Power

The US Patent and Trademark Office urged the Federal Circuit to turn away SAP America Inc.‘s constitutional challenge to policy changes expanding the agency’s leeway to preemptively deny administrative challenges to patents.

SAP forfeited its ability to challenge its Patent Trial and Appeal Board losses by not raising its arguments at the tribunal in the first instance, the PTO argued in a response brief filed Friday with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The software company’s mandamus petition asked the court for relief from changes implemented this year by Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart that bolstered ...