Transnational telecommunications patents and legislative jurisdiction

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Hutchison, Cameron
  • Yahya, Moin

• Introduction: The recent Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit (CAFC) decision in NTP, Inc. v. Research in Motion, Ltd., (hereinafter the BlackBerry decision)1 ushered in a new era of jurisdictional uncertainty concerning transnation patent disputes. The court's standard of "control and beneficial use" for infringement purposes, with respect to a telecommunications system with components located in both Canada and the U.S., leaves the jurisdictional reach of U.S. patent law open-ended. In the wake of the decision, different approaches have been discussed by none seem entirely satisfactory from the perspectives of fairness, predictability, and consistency with international patent law. In this short paper, we propose that these objectives may best be achieved if states use a principle of territorial market rights to determine legislative jurisdiction applicable to transnational telecommunications patent disputes. This approach would guide courts in applying national patent law according to where territorial market rights in an invention have been exploited.

• Date created

  2008

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Patent disputes
  • Telecommunications
  • National patent laws
  • Territorial market rights
  • International patent laws

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R34F1MZ4W

• License

  © 2008 Hutchison, C., & Yahya, M. A. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.