A recent precedential Federal Circuit decision further clarifies the limited scope of judicial review over PTAB institution-related rulings, holding that refusal by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to resolve a disputed real-party-in-interest issue under 35 U.S.C. § 312(a)(2) is unreviewable on appeal. The April 29, 2026, decision in Federal Express Corporation v. Qualcomm Incorporated
A pending Federal Circuit decision may force licensing counsel to rethink one of the most routine provisions in patent settlement agreements — the licensee’s denial of infringement.
Patent settlement agreements usually contain a denial of liability by the defendant/licensee, e.g., “[l]icensee denies any infringement of the asserted patents.” For decades, this language has largely been