Patent Chief Rejects Validity Challenge Due to ‘Unfair Dealings’

The acting head of the US Patent and Trademark Office denied Tessell Inc.'s validity challenge to a database management patent because of “unfair dealings.”

Review would be an inappropriate use of the agency’s resources because the patent’s inventors advocating for its unpatentability are now Tessell employees, acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart said in an order issued Thursday.

Stewart acknowledged that Federal Circuit precedent doesn’t support the office ignoring patent validity challenges brought by former owners of a patent under at least one provision of the Patent Act. But she said the agency can still consider the same factual evidence as ...