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Supreme Court Overturns Burden-Shift in Non-Infringement Judgment
On Jan. 22, 2014, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion, authored by Justice Breyer, in Medtronic, Inc. v. Mirowski Family Ventures, LLC, No. 2012-1128. The Court held that even in a declaratory judgment action, the patentee retains the burden of proving infringement.
Mirowski owned several patents for implantable heart stimulators. Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer, entered into a license agreement with Mirowski. The license stated that if Mirowski gave Medtronic notice that one of its products infringed a Mirowski patent, Medtronic, at its option, could pay royalties, or place the royalties in escrow and challenge the patent through a Declaratory Judgment action. If Medtronic did neither, Mirowski could terminate the license and sue for infringement. The parties subsequently found themselves in a dispute over whether seven new Medtronic products infringed two of Mirowski's patents. Medtronic brought a declaratory judgment action for non-infringement and invalidity, while continuing to pay it's royalties to Mirowski into an escrow account. At trial, the district court ruled in favor of Medtronic, finding that Mirowski had failed to prove infringement.
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