In eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC, ___ S.Ct. ___ (May 15, 2006), a unanimous United States Supreme Court abrogated the Federal Circuit’s “general rule” that a permanent injunction will issue once a patent is adjudged valid and infringed. In a concurring opinion for four of the eight Justices that considered eBay, Justice Kennedy singled out cases involving patent trolls and business method pat...

Successful legal action brings the defendant to account, and provides the opportunity for remedy, whether in the form of compensation to a person who has suffered, punishment of the wrongdoer, or the granting of injunctions (such as an order that a person or corporation refrain from certain conduct or that it undertake corrective action to set its wrongdoing right). Ultimately, it is litigation...