Eleventh Amendment Immunity from Patent Infringement Claims is Alive and Well

Biomedical Patent Management Corporation v. State of California, Department of Health Services, [2006-1515](October 23, 2007)[O,MALLEY, Rader, Gajarsa] The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the Complaint based on the State of California's sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment.
SIGNIFICANCE: Eleventh Amendment immunity for states from patent infringement actions is alive and well.
BRIEF: Biomedical did not dispute that defendant, as a branch of the government of the state of California, was entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment, but argued that the immunity had been waived by asserting claims in a prior lawsuit between the parties. Biomedical also argument that California's participation in other patent litigation constituted a general waiver. The Federal Circuit found that the voluntary dismissal of the earlier suit between the parties meant that the present suit was an entirely new action, to which any waiver of immunity in the first action would not apply.