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PUBPAT in the Supreme Court

PUBPAT advocates for sound patent policy before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Briefs

  • UPDATE: On April 30, 2007, the Supreme Court rendered its decision in the KSR case and held that the Federal Circuit had been determining the obviousness of patents in a narrow and rigid manner that was inconsistent with the statute and Supreme Court precedent.  The decision could result in restoration of higher and more certain Supreme Court standards for patentability that the Federal Circuit had been failing to properly apply.  The result, if the decision is followed by the Federal Circuit and applied by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, will be that innovators will be less likely to find their innovations impeded by undeserved patents, and will need to file fewer defensive patent applications in their effort to protect themselves from patent harm.  Both are decidedly in the public interest.
  • UPDATE: On May 15, 2006, the Supreme Court agreed with PUBPAT and unanimously reversed the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's previous habit of automatically granting injunctions in patent infringement cases.  Instead, the Supreme Court held that the traditional four-factor test for awarding permanent injunctive relief to a prevailing plaintiff applies to disputes arising under the Patent Act.  One of the four factors to be considered by a court before granting a permanent injunction in the future is the impact any such injunction will have on the general public.  The decision strongly supports the public interest and was welcomed by PUBPAT.

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