Patent Litigation Lawyer

Biomedical Patent Management Corp. sued California’s Department of Health Services last year, contending California infringed a patent for a birth-defect screening method. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, finding California was immune from suit under the 11th Amendment (sovereign immunity). Thus, the current law suggests that while a state can sue accused infringers of the state’s patents, the state cannot be sued when it is the infringer.

Legal experts and analysts expect the United States Supreme Court to review this case next term and provide a definitive ruling.

The Opinion is here.

Armi Easterby