By Dennis Fernandez of Fernandez & Associates, LLP
1. No Longer Any Guarantee Of Exclusive Patent Protection
According to the US Supreme Court in the recent Ebay case, there is no longer any assurance that rightful owners of valid US patents have any legal right to prevent unlawful trespassers from infringing his or her patent. In particular, the Ebay case specifically held that mere patent owners (e.g. non-practicing inventors or university researchers) cannot automatically assume they have any legal power to litigate against proven infringers to seek injunctive relief to block unlawful trespass.
2. No Current Assurance Of Reliable Patent Licensing
Again recently according to the US Supreme Court in the Medimmune case, a patent owner who licenses his or her patent via a legally-binding patent license agreement can no longer prevent the licensor of his or her valid patent license agreement from then suing the patent owner to challenge the validity of the patent, while still getting the benefit of licensing patent rights under the patent.
3. Cannot Seek Patent Protection For Mere Combination Of Old Elements
And more recently according to the US Supreme Court in the KSR case, despite many years of legal practice well-settled to the contrary by the US Patent Office and the Federal Courts, one can no longer expect to obtain a US patent for an invention that is &l...
