Patent Office wins major Supreme Court decision

The Supreme Court Thursday resolved a major patent law dispute in the government's favor, narrowing a court's authority to second- guess federal officials' decisions on which inventions deserve patent protection.

The 6-3 ruling said such decisions by the Patent and Trademark Office must be given more deference by a federal appeals court that specializes in technical cases.

Rather than being able to overturn the office's patent decisions if they are "clearly erroneous," the high court said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit must employ a more deferential standard included in a federal law, the Administrative Procedures Act.