eBay Petitions US Supreme Court to Hear Patent Injunction Issue

eBay Inc (eBay), the online auction house, has petitioned the US Supreme Court to decide whether eBay and other companies held liable for patent infringement at trial should be routinely subject to injunctions while their cases are under appeal. With the petition, eBay is attempting to reverse an injunction granted by a US District Court, when the Court found eBay had infringed a patent owned by MercExchange LLC. Later, the decision was upheld in part by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The issue of the ease with which injunctions are granted pending appeals has the technology and pharmaceuticals industries facing off against one another in the Congressional arena, currently in the process of drafting patent reform legislation. In the technology sector, in which patent disputes are becoming much more common, computer technology companies want Congress to clarify and tighten rules concerning judges' discretion in granting injunctions. And echoing this concern, in its petition to the US Supreme Court, eBay notes the power of a permanent injunction, where "[t]he enjoined defendant is faced with tough choices: redesign its product or the product's functionality to eliminate reliance on the patent, negotiate a license on possibly onerous terms, or cease production or use altogether." In the pharmaceutical sector, on the other hand, patent infringements are rare in the course of the product development phase, and, as result, pharma companies would like legislation to confirm that injunctions should be granted pending appeal as a matter of course, and be denied only in extraordinary circumstances. In other words, their position is that current appellate court practice should be codified in legislation. For a report of eBay's decision to appeal to the U S Supreme Court and the debate in Congress, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?C24D45A8B For the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that gave rise to the petition by eBay, see: http://www.fedcir.gov/opinions/03-1600.pdf Summary by: Nyall Engfield