TikTok Patent Challenges Nixed Due to Unaddressed China Concerns

TikTok Inc.'s invalidity challenges to several Bluetooth patents were denied because the social media giant failed to dispel concerns that the Chinese Communist Party influenced its petitions.

TikTok’s decision to not submit rebuttal evidence in response to patent owner Cellspin Soft Inc.'s accusations about the platform’s ties to the CCP doomed its challenges, US Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires said in a Monday decision.

He rejected TikTok’s argument that creation of an American-owned TikTok venture in January eliminated “rank speculation” about the CCP’s control of TikTok, noting that its challenges were filed in 2024. The decision relied ...