Apple, Google Again Fail to Upend Patent Office’s ‘Fintiv’ Rule

A federal court again rejected an attempt from tech companies including Apple Inc., Google LLC and Intel Corp. to overturn a controversial patent office rule used to deny certain patent validity reviews.

The US Patent and Trademark Office wasn’t required to hold notice-and-comment rulemaking for the rule, often referred to as Fintiv, because it doesn’t affect individual rights and gives agency officials the ability to exercise discretion, according to an order issued Sunday by the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Fintiv rule allows the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to reject patent challenges when ...