EFF: Supreme Court Tackles Dangerous Patent Ruling

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Friday, January 27, 2006

Contact:

Corynne McSherry
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   corynne@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x122

Jason Schultz
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   jason@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x112

Supreme Court Tackles Dangerous Patent Ruling

EFF Asks Justices to Consider Critical Free-Speech
Implications

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the United States
Supreme Court Thursday, asking justices to overturn a court
ruling in a patent case with dangerous implications for
free speech and consumers' rights.  The Public Patent
Foundation, the American Library Association, the American
Association of Law Libraries, and the Special Library
Association joined EFF on the brief.

At issue is a case involving online auctioneer eBay and a
company called MercExchange.  Last year, the Federal
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that eBay violated
MercExchange's online auction patents and that eBay could
be permanently enjoined, or prohibited, from using the
patented technology.  But as part of the ruling, the court
came to a perilous conclusion, holding that patentees who
prove their case have a right to permanent injunctions
under all but "exceptional circumstances," like a major
public health crisis.   This radical rule created an
"automatic injunction" standard that ignored the
traditional balancing and discretion used by judges to
consider how such a decision might affect other public
interests--including free speech online.

"As more and more people use software and Internet
technology to express themselves online, the battle over
software patents has grave implications for online speech,"
said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry.  "Courts must
work harder than ever to ensure that technologies like
blogs, email, online video, and instant messaging remain
free and available to the public."

The lower court's ruling stems in part from a misperception
that patents are just like other forms of property, with
the same rights and remedies.  However, Supreme Court
rulings have repeatedly emphasized that patents are a
unique form of property, designed to achieve a specific
public purpose: the promotion of scientific and industrial
progress.

"Part of the court's duty in patent cases is to make sure
that the system helps the public's right to free speech
instead of hurting it," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason
Schultz.  "If this ruling is allowed to stand, courts won't
be able to do what's right."

For the full brief:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/ebay_v_mercexchange/eff_am...

For more on patents and how bad law can hurt the public: 
http://www.eff.org/patent

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_01.php#004346

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-

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