华盛顿，10月19日：美国最高法院周一拒绝受理Alphabet旗下谷歌对美国专利商标局一项规则的挑战。谷歌认为该规则使较旧的专利免受有效性审查，并助长了专利诉讼的激增。
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 : The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge by Alphabet's Google to a US Patent and Trademark Office rule that the company argued has insulated older patents from validity reviews and helped fuel a surge in patent litigation.
大法官们驳回了谷歌对下级法院裁决的上诉，该裁决未要求该机构在不使用其“既定预期”规则的情况下重新考虑，而谷歌则以此挑战软件公司VirtaMove所持专利的有效性。VirtaMove指控谷歌侵犯了该专利。
The justices turned away Google's appeal of a lower court's decision not to force the agency to reconsider, without using its "settled expectations" rule, the company's challenge to the validity of a patent held by software company VirtaMove. VirtaMove accused Google of infringing the patent.
谷歌请求最高法院审查“既定预期”政策。根据该政策，专利局的专利审判和上诉委员会（PTAB）更有可能拒绝审查已有效超过六年的专利的请求。
Google asked the Supreme Court to review the "settled expectations" policy, under which the patent office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board, or PTAB, became more likely to reject requests to review patents that have been in force for more than six years.
科技公司常利用该委员会的“当事人间审查”程序试图撤销被指控侵权的专利。根据知识产权公司Patexia的一份报告，2020年至2025年间，该委员会最活跃的三名请愿方是三星、苹果和Alphabet。
Technology companies often use the board's "inter partes review" process to try to cancel patents that they are accused of infringing. The three most active board petitioners between 2020 and 2025 were Samsung, Apple and Alphabet, according to a report from IP company Patexia.
在唐纳德·特朗普总统任期内，美国专利商标局推出了一些措施，导致该委员会受理的审查比例下降。
The USPTO during President Donald Trump's administration has introduced measures that have decreased the percentage of reviews the board takes up.
根据该机构4月的一份报告，在特朗普任命的专利局局长约翰·斯奎尔斯（John Squires）任期内，该比例降至2026年的37%，而在他之前由前总统乔·拜登任命的局长凯西·维达尔（Kathi Vidal）任期内，该比例为65%。
That figure fell to 37 per cent in 2026 under John Squires, the Trump appointee who heads the patent office, compared to 65 per cent under his predecessor Kathi Vidal, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, according to an April report from the agency.
去年，专利局在一份备忘录中列出了若干有利于驳回当事人间审查请求的因素。该机构一直依据这些因素，以当事人的“既定预期”为由，拒绝对已有效超过六年的专利进行审查。
The patent office outlined in a memo last year several factors that favor rejecting an inter partes review petition, which the agency has used to deny review for patents that are more than six years old based on the "settled expectations" of the parties.
在2025年，专利局以“既定预期”（即公众对相关专利的普遍认知或预期）为由，驳回了谷歌针对VirtaMove专利（该专利涉及服务器软件）提出的复审请求。随后，美国联邦巡回上诉法院驳回了谷歌对专利局这一决定的上诉。
The patent office cited the "settled expectations" rule in rejecting Google's review petition in 2025 concerning the VirtaMove patent involving server software . The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against Google's appeal of the patent office rejection.
谷歌在提交的文件中指出，该“既定预期”规则超出了专利局的职权范围——因为该规则人为地为专利复审申请设置了时间限制。谷歌在文件中写道：“专利商标局无权在没有国会授权的情况下设定任何时间限制，也无权扩大专利权的范围（即超出国会所规定的范围）。”特朗普政府曾敦促法院不要审理谷歌的上诉。
Google told the justices in a filing that the rule exceeds the patent office's authority by creating an artificial time limit for board petitions. "The PTO (Patent and Trademark Office) has no authority to create a limitations period where Congress did not, and it has no authority to expand patent rights beyond what Congress provided," Google said in the filing. The Trump administration urged the court not to hear Google's appeal.
包括谷歌、苹果和英特尔在内的多家公司共同提起了另一起诉讼，挑战专利局的这项相关政策。今年2月，联邦巡回上诉法院驳回了这些公司的诉讼请求；随后，英特尔和谷歌又向最高法院提交了上诉请求，希望最高法院能够审理该案件。
A group of companies including Google, Apple and Intel has filed a separate lawsuit challenging a related patent office policy. The Federal Circuit ruled against the companies in February, and Intel and Google have also asked the Supreme Court to hear that case.