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IANAL, but ...IANAL, but ...Posted May 30, 2006 10:47 UTC (Tue) by pmilne (subscriber, #34533)In reply to: IANAL, but ... by JoeBuck Parent article: U.S. PTO smashes JPEG patent (Linux-Watch)
There may be circumstances where a person who paid royalties could claim them back when a patent is knocked off its pedestal, especially in cases where the person receiving the royalties knew or should have known that there was material prior art that was not noted with the application. Even if a licence agreement clause precluded this, unconscionable conduct by the licensor may void such a clause.
A patent troll who purchased such a patent and who unaware of such a situation could however possibly retain payments up to such time that he was made aware or became aware of the problem with the patent.
The legal aspects with respect to this are pretty complex but if the stakes are big some disgruntled licensee will no doubt try it on.
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