Tesla Takes Fight Over Autonomous Patents to Supreme Court

Tesla has taken its patent fight over Full Self-Driving to the Supreme Court. The company is challenging three U.S. patents related to hand-off logic in driver-assist systems, which are used by many vehicles on the road today.

The patents were originally filed by IBM in 2015 and have since been assigned to various entities. Tesla has argued that these patents should not be allowed to stand because they do not meet the requirements for patentability.

In a previous attempt to challenge the patents, Tesla filed an inter partes review (IPR) petition with the Patent Office. However, this was denied due to concerns about duplication of effort and expense. The Federal Circuit later upheld this decision, citing Section 314(d), which makes institution decisions final and nonappealable.

Tesla's current petition to the Supreme Court argues that if the agency can invent arbitrary criteria for denying review, then there is no check on its power. This has significant implications for the entire auto industry, as many companies rely on these patents to develop their own driver-assist systems.