Western Digital Joins Tech Chorus Challenging the Patent Office

Hard drive maker Western Digital Technologies Inc. petitioned the Federal Circuit Thursday challenging a test created by US Patent and Trademark Office Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart that makes it more difficult to administratively contest the validity of older patents.

Western Digital and its Sandisk Technologies Inc. spinoff argued the director’s reliance on “settled expectations” as a grounds to dismiss patent challenges violates both the Constitution and the director’s legal authority as authorized by Congress, according to a petition for a writ of mandamus filed Thursday at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The companies filed inter ...