The Delaware Court of Chancery has blocked a defunct health research organization’s motion to rescind changes to patent applications made by a medical device corporation while the patent’s ownership is being contested in the Delaware Supreme Court. In denying the request, the Chancery Court ruled that the research organization will not suffer irreparable harm because if the Supreme Court awards it ownership of the patent, it can reverse the amendments.
Chancery Court Vice Chancellor John W. Noble issued the letter opinion in ReCor Medical v. Warnking, a follow-up to his May decision awarding patent ownership to ReCor, a Palo Alto medical device company and Delaware corporation. The case was unusual because patent disputes among Delaware corporations are typically resolved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. However, the court viewed this case as a contractual claim instead of a patent issue.
