Patent Infringement
1/28/2008 4:48:30 PM EST
Bensen on International Gamco v. Multimedia Games
Co-author of Milgrim on Licensing and Milgrim on Trade Secrets and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Hofstra University School of Law
In International Gamco, the Federal Circuit ruled that an exclusive licensee of a patent whose license was limited to a field of use could not sue in its own name for the patent's infringement without joining the patentee. Eric E. Bensen examines the decision's implications and writes:
Gamco’s license purported to be territorial, but that territory was defined both geographically (NYSL-authorized sites) and by field of use (“lottery games”). The problem of multiplicity of suits was not cured by placing the geographic limitation on the license; multiple suits could arise from a single infringement within the geographic boundaries of the license as a result of the subject matter of the patent being divided among multiple parties there.
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