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January 17, 2008
FYI - another Supreme Court patent case
On Weds, the Supreme Court heard arguments in yet another patent case, this time on how far down the supply chain royalties go. As the International Herald Tribune explains:
At issue is whether LG can enforce its memory-technology patents against both Intel and the computer makers that install Intel's chips in their machines. Quanta, the world's largest maker of notebook computers, said it could not be forced to pay royalties on three LG patents because Intel already has paid.This may be another case where the Supreme Court over rules the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That Court held that LG could demand secondary royalty. According to the Wall Street Journal:
Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan, argued that LG was demanding more than patent law allowed. The license to Intel exhausted the patent claims, the company contended. Since the chips have no use other than as a computer component, it would make no sense to license their sale but forbid installing them in computers, it said.
Several justices seemed to agree. "What you are trying to do is expand what you get," Chief Justice John Roberts told LG's attorney, Carter Phillips. "And the reason that troubles me is because if you had imposed a condition on the sale, Intel wouldn't have paid you as much."
The final decision probably won't come out until summer.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at January 17, 2008 11:19 AM
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