SAP Challenges Patent Office Policy Shift as Unconstitutional

SAP America Inc. challenged as unconstitutional a Trump-era policy shift at the US Patent and Trademark Office it says shut down its ability to administratively challenge the validity of a patent it’s accused of infringing.

Acting PTO Director Coke Morgan Stewart’s rescission of a Biden-era memo governing discretionary denials of patent challenges was done in a way that violated SAP’s right to due process, it argued in a petition for a writ of mandamus docketed Monday at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Former PTO Director Kathi Vidal’s 2022 memo allowed patent challengers to have inter partes ...