monkeymagick
[H]News
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2008
- Messages
- 480
Mega-corporations Amazon and Microsoft are being sued by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe over patents "given" to the tribe from patent-holding company SRC Labs. Due from tribal nations having "sovereign immunity," the supercomputer patents might avoid patent reviews from the US Patent Office. Apparently another drug company, Allergan (patent-trolling company) gave the same tribe six patents of its eye medication Restasis, agreeing to pay $13.5 million to the St. Regis Tribe as part of a patent deal.
If it does work, the advantages could be considerable. State universities have a different form of sovereign immunity, and in at least two cases, universities have stopped patent reviews from moving forward at the Patent Trial and Appeals Board. Public universities also have a big advantage in federal court, because potential defendants can't file a declaratory judgment lawsuit against them to challenge their patents. In other words, they have to wait to be sued before they can fight back. This effectively gives universities the ability to choose when and where to fight patent battles.
If it does work, the advantages could be considerable. State universities have a different form of sovereign immunity, and in at least two cases, universities have stopped patent reviews from moving forward at the Patent Trial and Appeals Board. Public universities also have a big advantage in federal court, because potential defendants can't file a declaratory judgment lawsuit against them to challenge their patents. In other words, they have to wait to be sued before they can fight back. This effectively gives universities the ability to choose when and where to fight patent battles.