Justices Lean Toward Limiting, Not Eliminating, Assignor Estoppel Doctrine in Minerva v. Hologic

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., Cytyc Surgical Products, LLC, which essentially asks the Court to decide whether the doctrine of “assignor estoppel”—which bars the assignor of a patent from later attacking the patent’s validity—should be scrapped, retained or limited. The Court’s questioning indicated that it seems uncomfortable with discarding the doctrine entirely, as Minerva would like.

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