All Tied Up: Independent Ink, Inc. v. Illinois Tool Works, Inc. and Trident, Inc.

On June 20, 2005, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in an important case for intellectual property holders seeking to navigate the sometimes-conflicting dictates of patent and antitrust law. In <i>Independent Ink, Inc. v. Illinois Tool Works, Inc., and Trident, Inc.</i>, 396 F.3d 1492 (Fed. Cir. 2005), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that a patent establishes a rebuttable presumption of market power in a tying case brought under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The ruling has put the Federal Circuit at odds with several lower courts, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and a host of academic critics, each of which maintain that patent rights do not, by themselves, give rise to an inference of market power, and that any rule to the contrary has the potential to reduce legitimate incentives to innovate.

23 minute read October 06, 2005 at 09:21 AM
By
Scott A. Sher and Charles P. Reichmann
All Tied Up: Independent Ink, Inc. v. Illinois Tool Works, Inc. and Trident, Inc.

On June 20, 2005, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in an important case for intellectual property holders seeking to navigate the sometimes-conflicting dictates of patent and antitrust law. In Independent Ink, Inc. v.

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