[Discussioni] An Overview of Recent U.S. Supreme Court Jurisprudence in Patent Law

[Francesco Potorti`]

 <http://opencrs.cdt.org/document/RL33923>

Summary:

The U.S. patent law is subject to change through legislation, the
regulations and rules of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and
judicial interpretation. The 109th Congress considered, without passing,
legislation that would have significantly reformed provisions of the
Patent Act; similar patent bills may be introduced in the 110th
Congress. In 2006, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued requests
for public comments regarding its proposed rule amendments and new
guidelines governing the patent application and approval process. Patent
law jurisprudence is continually being developed through litigation over
activities that allegedly infringe a patent holder's rights. The losing
party in these cases may appeal the district court's decision to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized tribunal
established by Congress that has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in
patent cases. Parties dissatisfied with the Federal Circuit's rulings
may petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate court's
decision. However, the Supreme Court is not required to entertain the
appeal; it has discretion to decide whether to grant certiorari to
review the case. While the Supreme Court has left the Federal Circuit's
opinions undisturbed in the vast majority of patent cases since the
creation of the specialized patent court in 1982, the Court has shown,
over the past three terms, an increased willingness to hear cases that
raise patent law issues. The Supreme Court Justices' apparent new found
interest in patent cases perhaps stems from a recognition of the growing
importance of intellectual property to the nation's information-based
economy, as well as a need to correct perceived errors in lower courts'
interpretation and application of patent law. This report provides a
brief summary of the Supreme Court's patent law jurisprudence in the
following eight cases that have been argued or decided since 2005: Merck
KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Unitherm Food Systems v. Swift-Eckrich,
Illinois Tool Works v. Independent Ink, eBay v. MercExchange, Laboratory
Corporation of America Holdings v. Metabolite Labs., MedImmune
v. Genentech, KSR International v. Teleflex, and Microsoft v. AT&T.