Supreme Court Clears Patent Invalidity Suits

The Empiricist writes: The United States Supreme Court has cleared the way for entities "to sue over the validity of a patent — even while paying user fees to the patent holder." The eight-one Medimmune v. Genetech decision, written by Justice Scalia, held that by paying royalties to a patent holder, one does not necessarily waive the right to challenge the validity of patent. Depending on the number of on-going licensing arrangements that have been made under protest, this decision could herald a wave of lawyers seeking to eliminate weak, burdensome patents.