Law in Contemporary Society

View   r5  >  r4  ...
MariHulbuttaFirstEssay 5 - 19 Apr 2018 - Main.MariHulbutta
Line: 1 to 1
 
META TOPICPARENT name="FirstEssay"

Tribal Sovereignty Advancements Through Intellectual Property Law

Changed:
<
<		-- By MariHulbutta - 14 April 2018
>
>		-- By MariHulbutta - 19 April 2018 (Revised version; 1000 words)
 

I. Current Landscape of Native American Legal Practitioners and the Outsourcing Problem

Line: 18 to 18
 

Patent Law

Indian lawyers and IP practitioners alike are following an ongoing case in which the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) rejected tribal sovereign immunity within the context of patent review proceedings. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, represented by an IP law firm experienced in public university sovereign immunity, asserted sovereign immunity to bypass an inter partes review (IPR) of drug patents it acquired from drug maker Allergan and then licensed back. Generic drug companies sued Allergan and the tribe alleging that they sought to circumvent federal processes using tribal immunity.
Changed:
<
<		 Meanwhile Sens. McCaskill (D-MO) and Cotton (R-AR) introduced bills to prevent sovereign immunity in PTAB reviews. In response, the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution affirming support for tribal immunity from patent litigation.
>
>		 Meanwhile Sens. McCaskill (D-MO) and Cotton (R-AR) introduced bills to prevent sovereign immunity in PTAB reviews. In response, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) passed a resolution affirming support for tribal immunity from patent litigation.
  PTAB’s ruling against the tribe was based on a lack of precedent. The latest development in the case, however, presents hope for tribes and Allergan. The Federal Circuit granted the tribe’s request to stay the IPR proceedings until after oral arguments are heard in June 2018. This decision demonstrates that courts are interested in hearing the tribe’s view on this matter rather than deferring to administrative decisions. The question the court will consider is not entirely new. Previous cases where tribal sovereign immunity has successfully shielded tribes from patent disputes include: Specialty House of Creation, Inc. v. Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma (N.D. Okla. 2011) (finding that sovereign immunity protected a tribe from a private patent suit); and Home Bingo Network v. Multimedia Games, Inc. (N.D.N.Y. 2005) (holding that federal patent law contains no abrogation of tribal sovereign immunity and that a tribe was immune from a patent infringement claim).


Revision 5r5 - 19 Apr 2018 - 14:16:06 - MariHulbutta
Revision 4r4 - 15 Apr 2018 - 02:43:02 - MariHulbutta
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
Syndicate this site RSSATOM