Yours, Mine and Ours
June 10, 2009
Sometimes, the merger of two companies requires a sorting of the Cinderellas from the ugly stepsisters when it comes to pre-existing contractual relationships. The decision in Epistar Corp. v. International Trade Commission involves one such blended family tale. There, after a merger, the alleged infringer found itself with separate licensing agreements that both prohibited and allowed invalidity challenges in future litigation with the same patent holder. The patent holder claimed the agreement that precluded invalidity challenges governed and the International Trade Commission agreed. The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded, finding that the merger, in and of itself, was not enough to prevent the invalidity defense from coming to the dance.
Read the full article on APaTS: Advanced Patent Trial Strategies