Recently, John Squires, Commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), issued an order terminating the inter partes review proceedings initiated by Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yangtze Memory) against two patents held by Micron Technology, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Micron).

On January 16, 2026, Director Squires issued an “informative” order revoking the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's (PTAB) prior decision to accept Yangtze Memory's request for inter partes review. The order emphasized that this decision was not directly based on Yangtze Memory's inclusion on the U.S. Department of Commerce's Entity List (which identifies entities posing potential national security risks), but rather stemmed from its insufficient clarification of its “precise identity.” Squires stated that Yangtze Memory's response failed to address the core question of whether it is owned or controlled by a Chinese state-owned enterprise, instead shifting focus to the general principle that “sound patent policy aims to invalidate bad patents.”

In October 2025, Director Squires publicly stated that companies with ties to foreign governments must be prevented from exploiting U.S. patent administrative procedures. Subsequently in November, Squires requested Yangtze Memory Technologies explain why the USPTO should adjudicate a patent invalidation request filed by an entity on the Entity List. In its response, Yangtze Memory Technologies emphasized that its reexamination request constituted a legitimate procedure encouraged by the America Invents Act to remove problematic patents, and pointed out that Micron Technology was using the Entity List as a legal weapon. However, Director Squires determined that these responses did not substantively address the issues of identity disclosure and ownership.

The order further noted that evidence submitted by Micron indicated Yangtze Memory Technologies' parent company was state-owned in nature, and that the Chinese government publicly referred to it as a state-owned enterprise. Commissioner Squires noted that Yangtze Memory did not refute these assertions nor clarify whether its activities could pose national security risks. While the order did not directly rule on whether foreign governments have standing to file inter partes reviews, Squires indicated in a footnote that the USPTO may decline to accept petitions from sovereign entities at its discretion.

Neither party has responded to media requests for comment as of this writing.