If it was legally owned by the tribe it would still run into issues with violating local state laws for any loans issues outside of tribal territories.
That part I'm aware of. My question was not in reference to payday loans or the Tuckers. If a legit tribal company filed this patent, would the ruling be the same? Or does it matter that the patent was "tribal" only in an attempt to get around the review?
The latter. If they legitimately owned the patent (whether they filed it themselves or acquired it by purchase), then this case could have proceeded on its merits.
Yes but they have sovereign immunity so only the feds can come knocking. So it has to be a big enough enterprise or really devious to get in trouble with the feds.