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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 10, 2019, held that General Electric Co.‘s position as a patent owner’s competitor was insufficient to establish standing to appeal a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision. Gen. Elec. Co. v. United Techs. Corp., Fed. Cir., No. 17-2497, 7/10/19.

In 2016, GE challenged claims in United Technologies’ gas turbine airplane engine patent. GE argued it was injured by the PTAB decision because it spent time and money researching an engine design that could implicate the patent in response to a request from Boeing Co. But the Court found no evidence that GE lost business or opportunities because it couldn’t make an engine covered by the patent. Furthermore, GE’s claim of economic injury from increased research and development costs was too remote to support standing, the Federal Circuit said.