Fletcher YoderIn the absence of evidence of fraud before the PTO or sham litigation, the court need not consider the validity of a patent in the antitrust analysis of a settlement agreement involving a reverse payment.
In order to “pry open to competition” in a market closed by antitrust violations, an order for mandatory, nondiscriminatory sales (in the form of reasonable-royalty licensing) to all bona fide applicants may be appropriate relief.
A plaintiff may bring a Walker Process claim against a patentee based on threatened enforcement of a fraudulently-obtained patent against the plaintiff’s customers.
Plaintiff conducted reasonable inquiry before filing suit for infringement of therapeutic method patent, even though plaintiff did not conduct chemical analysis of accused product, and subsequently abandoned action upon learning that defendant’s product contained no more than .00005 percent of composition claimed as principal active ingredient of invention.