Tesla Challenge to Patent Office Power Tossed by Federal Circuit

The Federal Circuit disposed of Tesla Inc.'s constitutional challenge to a Trump administration rule that makes it harder to contest the validity of patents at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

A per curiam panel on Friday rejected Tesla’s framing of the PTO’s refusal to hear challenges as a violation of the Constitution’s separation-of-powers principle. The unsigned order said “the Supreme Court has noted that ‘claims simply alleging that the President has exceeded his statutory authority’” aren’t viable constitutional claims.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has now turned away 13 challenges to the PTO director’s discretionary ...