In a pair of recent Copyright Act cases, the Supreme Court clarified the doctrines of laches and exhaustion. The court now is now set to decide whether and how those same doctrines apply under the Patent Act. SCA Hygiene Prods. Aktiebolag SCA v. First Quality Baby Prods., 807 F.3d 1311 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (laches); Lexmark Int’l v. Impression Prods., 816 F.3d 721 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (exhaustion). We report here on these Federal Circuit decisions and pending appeals, and discuss the differing statutory framework and policy concerns of patent and copyright law. Although we reported on the Federal Circuit’s Lexmark decision in March 2016, we include it here in light of the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari.

Cases and Statutes

Laches. Laches is an equitable defense that can bar legal remedies where the plaintiff unreasonably and inexcusably delays bringing suit, and the defendant suffers material prejudice attributable from the delay. SCA Hygiene, 807 F.3d at 1317.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]