Supreme Court considers “automatic” injunctions in patent cases
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard arguments in eBay v. MercExchange, where both sides agree that the courts nearly always issue an injunction anytime a patent is infringed. It is argued by Nathan Myhrvold (see “Inventors Have Rights, Too!” in today’s Wall Street Journal) and others that without a strong presumption in favor of injunctions in patent cases, big tech companies would “stall and drown the little guy with legal fees.” This is a variation on a familiar argument: Litigation normally isn’t cheap; it isn’t “predictable.” So we should just get rid of it, right? The convoluted logic of tort reformers is now the convoluted logic of defenders of a questionable patent system. Patents exist to promote innovation, but lately they Read More ›