Dealing a blow to a non-profit that hoped to invalidate a controversial embryonic stem cell patent, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a fight over the rights of third parties to challenge decisions by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The justices denied a cert petition filed by Consumer Watchdog, which had contested a decision upholding the patent’s validity. The high court’s denial leaves in place a ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found that Consumer Watchdog lacked standing to appeal the findings of the PTO’s administrative patent review board.
