High Court Patent Ruling a Victory for Big Business

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: High Court Patent Ruling a Victory for Big Business
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2006 06:47:41 -0800
From: Ridgely Evers <revers () evers org>
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>

Dave,

Worth a read.  This seems like a pretty significant (though subtle) shift.

--Ridge

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1141207512775&rss=newswire


High Court Patent Ruling a Victory for Big Business
By Tony Mauro
Legal Times
03-02-2006

Acting in a case at the intersection of patent and antitrust law, the
Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a ruling that makes it harder for upstart
companies and generic manufacturers to challenge patent holders' power in
the marketplace.

<snip>

The decision Wednesday said that a patent on a product does not
automatically mean that the patent holder has market power of the type that
would trigger an antitrust "tying" violation. Tying occurs when a seller
conditions its sale of one product on the purchase of another product.

Without the presumption the ruling means competitors will have to actually
prove that the patent holder has market power -- an uphill battle that
critics say will put many patent-related tying arrangements beyond legal
challenge.

The ruling also has a spillover effect on copyright law. For example, movie
theater owners warned the Court that if the presumption was removed, they
could be forced to buy and show unwanted movies along with the titles they
do want to show.

<snip>

The case before the Court was Illinois Tool Works v. Independent Ink.
Illinois Tool Works defended tying its sale of unpatented ink to the sale of
patented machinery that prints bar codes on packages. Independent Ink, which
sells ink that works with the machines, challenged the tying arrangement as
an antitrust violation.

<snip>

"Congress, the antitrust enforcement agencies, and most economists have all
reached the conclusion that a patent does not confer market power upon the
patentee," [Justice] Stevens wrote. "Today, we reach the same conclusion."


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