On Wednesday, April 21, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., which concerns the doctrine of assignor estoppel. Generally speaking, assignor estoppel prohibits the assignor of a patent from later attacking the patent’s validity in court. Minerva argues that assignor estoppel is an ill-conceived relic of a bygone era that the Court should discard or at least substantially limit. Hologic argues that the doctrine is a bedrock part of the common law—a background against which Congress has been legislating for over a century—that the Court should preserve in full.
Litigation
- CAFC Affirms Water Heater Infringement Ruling Based on District Court Claim Construction
- CAFC Upholds PTAB’s Finding that Samsung Failed to Prove Magnetic Stripe Emulator Claims Obvious
- Seventh Circuit Throws Out Antitrust Suit Against AbbVie in Welcome Victory for Patent Rights
- Induced Infringement: The Knowledge Requirement and When it is Established
- Federal Circuit Delivers Amazon a Win, Vacating Jury Verdict that Echo Induced Infringement
Recent Posts
- Certification Marks: The Tie that Binds Scotch Whisky, the International Ladies Garment Worker’s Union and a Rated R Motion Picture
- Win for Photographer in Ninth Circuit Reversal of Fair Use Finding
- Entrepreneur Spotlight: How Ray Young is Fighting Content Theft Encouraged by Big Tech Platforms
- Studebaker & Brackett is Hiring a Patent Attorney or Agent
- Other Barks & Bites for Friday, August 5: Win for AbbVie at Seventh Circuit; Eleventh Circuit Affirms Ruling for Monster Energy; and Ninth Circuit Reverses Fair Use Finding in Death Valley Lake Photo Case