Robert Hochman and Matthew Wolf (L-R) Sidley's Robert Hochman and Arnold & Porter's Matthew Wolf. Courtesy photos

The devil is going to be in the details when it comes to patent law's doctrine of assignor estoppel.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not sound inclined to heed calls Wednesday to abolish the doctrine, which says that an inventor can't sell patent rights and then turn around and attack their validity in court.