Test of USPTO power, Federal Circuit deference, teed up in Google cert petition
By Melissa Ritti ( April 28, 2026, 14:51 GMT | Comment) -- The US Patent and Trademark Office’s position that after six years without a substantive challenge to validity a patent owner rightfully forms a “settled expectation” that their asset is inter partes review-proof has reached the US Supreme Court. That may not be the most consequential issue raised in a Monday petition for writ of certiorari by Google, however.A clash over US Patent and Trademark Office procedure has ballooned into a broader test of the ability of federal agencies to reshape statutory regimes with statutory discretion courts say they are powerless to review....
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