No Full Federal Circuit Eye on Patent Sovereign Immunity Ruling

The full Federal Circuit won’t reconsider a splintered panel opinion allowing a patent licensee to proceed with an infringement suit without the patent owner’s involvement.

In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that sovereign immunity protects the University of Texas, which owns two medical treatment patents, from being added as an involuntary plaintiff in the suit. But that meant patent licensee Gensetix Inc. was barred from suing the Baylor College of Medicine for infringement, the court said.

One judge on the panel dissented from the sovereign immunity holding, and another dissented from the decision to ...