The Supreme Court Decision in Microsoft v. i4i: Implications for Innovation Policy

John R. Thomas
Visiting Scholar

The June 9, 2011, decision of the United States Supreme Court in Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Limited Partnership et al. rained current legal standards by holding that patents must be proved invalid by “clear and convincing evidence.” The Court explicitly rejected the argument that the “preponderance of the evidence” standard, which would have made patents more vulnerable to challenge, applied in this situation. The decision arguably holds a number of potential implications for U.S. innovation policy, including incentives to innovate, invest, and assert patents, and leaves the question of the appropriate presumption of validity for patents squarely before Congress.


Date of Report: July 28, 2011
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number: R41994
Price: $19.95

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