A Better Newspaper

## Overview The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)'s "settled expectations" doctrine — used to justify discretionary denial of inter partes review (IPR) petitions targeting patents with longer litigation histories — has survived a Supreme Court challenge. On October 20, 2026, the Supreme Court denied Google's petition for certiorari challenging the doctrine, following the U.S. Solicitor General's recommendation to deny review, and consistent with a prior Federal Circuit ruling (IPWatchdog, October 20). ## Related Rulemaking Separately, the Innovation Alliance is pushing the Trump administration to finalize a USPTO Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) first published October 16, 2025, which would focus IPR proceedings on patent claims not previously challenged in litigation or where prior litigation ended early (IPWatchdog, October 15). The anniversary of the NPRM without finalization has prompted renewed advocacy. ## Why It Matters The settled expectations doctrine and the pending NPRM both bear on how aggressively companies like Google can use IPR to challenge patents, a central tool in patent litigation defense strategy. The Supreme Court's denial of cert effectively locks in the PTAB's current discretionary denial framework absent new rulemaking, raising the stakes on whether the Trump administration finalizes the proposed rule changes. ## Key Entities - **PTAB**: Adjudicates patent validity challenges via IPR. - **USPTO**: Issued the NPRM to revise PTAB practice rules. - **Google**: Petitioner challenging the settled expectations doctrine; cert denied. - **Innovation Alliance**: Industry group advocating for finalizing the NPRM. - **U.S. Solicitor General**: Recommended denial of Google's cert petition. ## What to Watch - Whether the Trump administration finalizes the NPRM. - Further Federal Circuit or PTAB rulings applying the settled expectations doctrine. - Industry responses from companies frequently subject to patent litigation.