Patent Office Continues To Fight Smartflash's FOIA Suit

By Adam Lidgett, Law 360, July 8, 2024

The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office has again said it shouldn't have to turn over documents an inventor is seeking about Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews of his patents, saying that doing so would harm its ability to respond to public information requests. . . .

The federal government on Monday filed a reply brief backing its bid for summary judgment in the case filed y Smartflash LLC, which is owned by inventor Patrick Racz.

Smartflash had said the PTAB panels in its cases were manipulated to benefit challenger Apple, and the the documents it got from the office in response to its Freedom of Information Act requests omitted too much information to provide clarity. The company had said that the emails were improperly redacted and that it was treated differently from other patent owners, according to court records.

Read more here (access with free 7-day trial).

The docket and complaint are available here.