U.S. Supreme Court denies Google cert petition challenging USPTO’s settled expectations denials

Context:

• In January 2025, Google filed a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) for inter partes review (IPR) of a patent owned by VirtaMove.
• Coke Morgan Stewart, then USPTO Acting Director, discretionarily denied Google’s petition on the basis that the patent had been in force for over 14 years prior to the IPR request and had not faced validity challenges during that period, “creating strong settled expectations” for VirtaMove on the patent’s presumed validity.
• In response, Google petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for a writ of mandamus in January 2026, asking it to vacate the Acting Director’s decision and to direct the USPTO to reconsider the IPR requests without reference to “settled expectations”. This petition was denied.
• Google then filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), asking it whether the USPTO has statutory authority to deny petitions for administrative review of patent validity on the grounds of settled expectations (April 28, 2026 ip fray article).