The Hispanic Leadership Fund has long championed innovators and small businesses in minority communities, serving as a voice for historically underserved groups and advocating for policies that allow for and protect their success and ability to grow.
To that end, HLF recently filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, encouraging the Court to review yet another case in the long-running patent disputes between Samsung Electronics and Apple, Inc. Samsung recently filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court, arguing that two Federal Circuit decisions on obviousness and injunction awards set a dangerous precedent for patent law.
In its previous ruling in these cases, the Federal Circuit substantially weakened the obviousness standard through its elevation of “secondary considerations.” Further, the Court undermined a key defense of legitimate patent holders in its easing of injunctive relief. Ultimately, these decisions enable patent assertion entities to litigate low-quality patents, against which minority-owned small businesses would be severely strained. With limited financial and legal resources, these fledgling companies would be forced to divert their attention from developing new products and technologies, thereby stunting innovation for consumers across the board.
As HLF stated in its amici brief, “These alterations to the cornerstones of patent law will shape the dynamics of every patent application, every infringement assertion, and every lawsuit – everywhere in the United States.” In order to reverse these unprecedented decisions and protect the patent rights of minority inventors across the country, it’s imperative that the Supreme Court accept this case for review.
The full brief is here.
