TikTok Denied Patent Challenge Over Agency ‘Road Mapping’ Worries

TikTok Inc. and its parent, ByteDance Ltd., lost their bid for review of a second set of claims in rival Tiller Inc.’s video synching patent, as an administrative tribunal expressed concerns about “road mapping.”

TikTok challenged a number of claims in U.S. Patent No. 9,691,429 in the fall of 2020. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board agreed in April to review those claims. Less than two weeks before the institution decision, TikTok filed a second petition challenging the rest of the patent’s claims.

TikTok didn’t explain why it couldn’t have put all of its arguments in a single petition, the ...