In a case that is surely near and dear to anybody who has gone through the plight of owning an inkjet printer, the Obama administration has called for the Supreme Court of the United States to review the Court of Appeals decision in Lexmark International, Inc., v. Impression Products, Inc.[1] The Solicitor General has requested that the Supreme Court review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuits’ decision. This month, they held that Impression Products had infringed Lexmark’s patents. The alleged “infringement comes from their sale of refurbished Lexmark ink cartridges that were sold with “single use” or “no resale” restrictions.”[2]
They urge that the Federal Circuit has “misconstrued 150 years of precedent”, and through its effect “unsuspecting downstream purchasers are at risk of spatent infringement suits.” [3] The gravamen of the case is to determine how far “patent owners can control the use of their products after an authorized sale, domestic, or foreign.”[4] Further, the Solicitor General argues that the decision by the Federal Circuit “would substantially erode the exhaustion doctrine.”[5] In any case, we will have to patiently wait to see if the court will grant cert.
[1] Barbara Grzincic Administration Backs U.S. Supreme Court Review of Lexmark Patent Exhaustion Ruling, Reuters legal, (Oct. 14, 2016), https://1.next.westlaw.com/Document/Ie4d1ab6091f511e68f45b58dd1e656b4/View/FullText.html?originationContext=docHeader&contextData=(sc.Category)&transitionType=Document&needToInjectTerms=False&docSource=c904320afb854063b83b1d38880e8ad5.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.