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Apple v. Squires: No Right to Institution

Federal Circuit, decided 13 February 2026. Read from the primary document; quotations verified against its own text.

What it says

On February 13, 2026 the Federal Circuit held that the USPTO Director's NHK-Fintiv instructions to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board are a "general statement of policy" exempt from notice-and-comment rulemaking under 5 U.S.C. 553(b), and stated that Congress provided no legal right to institution of an inter partes review.

A petitioner who satisfies every statutory requirement for inter partes review still has no entitlement to get one.

The Federal Circuit held the Director's discretionary-denial instructions are a general statement of policy, so they did not require notice-and-comment rulemaking. And it stated plainly that Congress provided no legal right to institution.

That is what makes the discretionary stage described in the companion page consequential rather than procedural: there is no backstop entitlement underneath it.

What This Does Not Decide

This is administrative law, not a filing strategy. It is easy to read "no right to institution" as a reason not to petition. The opinion says nothing of the kind. It resolves whether the instructions needed rulemaking, and who is entitled to what.
  • It does not say whether any particular petition will be instituted.
  • It does not say whether a specific discretionary denial was lawful.
  • It says nothing about patentability.

Educational, not legal advice. This page reports what an authority says. Applying it to a matter is work for a registered practitioner with the file in front of them.

Sources