Supreme Court to Decide Standard for Proving Invalidity of a Patent

“Today the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Microsoft’s appeal
in a case that could make it easier to invalidate a patent. If
successful, Microsoft’s challenge should help in the fight against
bad patents by leveling the playing field for showing that a patent
is invalid. A Microsoft win in the case would benefit not only
Microsoft, but also the free and open source software community.
That’s why EFF, joined by Public Knowledge, the Computer &
Communications Industry Association and the Apache Software
Foundation, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court supporting
Microsoft.

“As we previously reported, here’s some background: In court,
parties have to prove their case by some “standard of proof.” In
almost all civil cases, the standard is “preponderance of the
evidence” – meaning it is more likely than not that the facts
are true. When the question is invalidating a patent, however, the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided that a
defendant trying to prove a patent invalid must do so by a higher
standard than normal civil cases, that of “clear and convincing”
evidence.”

Complete Story