JURISDICTION MORE / LIKELY WHERE A LICENSING / ENTITY INVOLVED

Hewlett-Packard Company v. Acceleron LLC, [2009-1283]( December 4, 2009) [MICHEL, Newman, Moore] The Federal Circuit reversed the dismissal for lack of declaratory judgment jurisdiction.
DISCUSSION: The Federal Circuit found declaratory judgment jurisdiction from the contacts by defendant patent holding company despite the lack of express threats, or the assertion of specific claims or the identification of accused products, noting it is implausible (especially after MedImmune and several post-MedImmune decisions from this court) to expect that a competent lawyer drafting such correspondence for a patent owner would identify specific claims, present claim charts, and explicitly allege infringement. The Federal Circuit said that: conduct that can be reasonably inferred as demonstrating intent to enforce a patent can create declaratory judgment jurisdiction. Finally, the Federal Circuit indicated that the conduct of a licensing entity, which without enforcement it receives no benefits from its patents, can affect the assessment of whether there is a actual case or controversy.