A recent district court decision in Sonos v. Google has set forth a novel application of the prosecution laches doctrine to a patent with a post-1995 priority date. Sonos Inc. v. Google LLC, 20-06754 WHA, 2023 WL 6542320...more
We are excited to share Sheppard Mullin’s inaugural quarterly report on key Federal Circuit decisions. The Spring 2023 Quarterly Report provides summaries of most key patent law-related decisions from January 1, 2023 to March...more
On March 27, 2018, District Judge Matsumoto (E.D.N.Y.) issued an 83-page decision on the parties' summary judgment briefing, which covered ten issues across three patents relating to multilayer ceramic capacitors. ...more
Arbitration - Waymo v. Uber Technologies, 870 F.3d 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2017) - Waymo sued Uber and others for trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement. Uber contends that Waymo should be compelled to...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a 7-1 ruling in SCA Hygiene1 that eliminated the common-law defense of laches in patent infringement cases. The Supreme Court reasoned that laches is a “gap-filling doctrine” that does...more
This paper is based on reports on precedential patent cases decided by the Federal Circuit distributed by Peter Heuser on a weekly basis. ...more
Update to TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, Case No. 16-341 (May 22, 2017) - In an 8-0 opinion written by Justice Thomas (Justice Gorsuch did not participate), the Supreme Court rules that a defendant...more
Supreme Court Restricts the Extraterritorial Reach of U.S. Patent Law for Exported Goods - On February 22, 2017, the Supreme Court in a landmark decision held that the supply of a single component of a multicomponent...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions on intellectual property issues. On March 21, 2017, the Court decided in a 7-1 opinion that laches is no longer a valid defense to a claim of patent infringement occurring...more
Three years ago, in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., the Supreme Court held that the equitable defense of laches is not available against copyright claims for damages brought within the Copyright Act’s three-year...more
In SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC, the Supreme Court made plain that laches is merely an equitable defense in patent cases, and will not bar a damage claim if brought within the six year...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided two much anticipated intellectual property cases. Supreme Court Rejects Laches in Patent Infringement Cases - The first, SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag et al. v. First Quality...more
Last week the Supreme Court held in a 7-1 decision that the equitable defense of laches is no defense to the legal remedy of patent damages where the infringement occurred during the statutory period of 35 U.S.C. § 286. SCA...more
The Supreme Court of the United States in SCA Hygiene Prods. Aktiebolag, et al. v. First Quality Baby Prods., LLC, et al., has held that the equitable defense of laches is no longer a valid defense to patent damages claims...more
The Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of the laches defense in patent infringement actions, aligning its interpretation of laches under the Patent Act with that under the Copyright Act....more
The Supreme Court, in a 7-1 decision written by Justice Alito, has held that laches cannot be invoked as a defense against any claim for damages in a patent case brought within the 6-year limitation on damages prescribed by...more
In a highly-anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court held that patent holders can recover damages for infringement even when the patent holders unreasonably delayed filing a lawsuit. In SCA Hygiene Products AB v. First Quality...more
The Supreme Court of the United States in a 7-1 decision held that patent defendants cannot assert the defense/doctrine of laches to shorten the six-year statute of limitations for damages claims for patent infringement. SCA...more
The United States Supreme Court announced today that laches, an affirmative defense based on an injured party’s delay in bringing suit, may not bar patent infringement damages within the six-year period under § 286 of the...more
On March 21, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States decided SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC, No. 15-927, holding that a defendant cannot invoke laches against a damages claim asserted...more
On March 21, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a highly anticipated 7-1 decision, held that laches cannot be invoked as a defense against damages for patent infringement occurring within the six-year damages limitation period...more
Until today, laches had been available as a defense in patent litigation without much debate. The defense often arose in the context of demand letters: a patentee would threaten an accused infringer, but would then wait...more
Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion, SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC, in which it held that laches cannot be used as a defense to a claim of patent infringement. The opinion had...more
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned another Federal Circuit decision today (this one having been decided en banc by the appellate court), in SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC. The outcome was...more