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.
