Zebra Technologies Corporation v. Intellectual Tech LLC

This petition concerns standing to assert a claim for patent infringement where patent rights have become diffused by contract. The Federal Circuit holds that Article III standing to sue for patent infringement turns on whether a plaintiff possesses “exclusionary rights,” Morrow v. Microsoft Corp., 499 F.3d 1332, 1339-40 (CAFed 2007), a term it has never squarely defined. It has held, however, that an exclusive licensee does not hold exclusionary rights with respect to “a party who has the ability to obtain such a license from another party with the right to grant it.” WiAV Sols. LLC v. Motorola, Inc., 631 F.3d 1257, 1266 (CAFed 2010). The decision below holds that “exclusionary rights” carries a different meaning for patent “owners” than for exclusive licensees, further unsettling the law of standing, particularly as it applies to complex contracts. The question presented is: Whether a party has Article III standing to assert a claim for patent infringement against an accused infringer who has the ability to obtain a license from a third party.