United States Federal Circuit

In an action seeking declaratory judgment that two of defendant's patents, relating to the V-Chip, were not infringed by the plaintiffs, invalid, and not enforceable against the plaintiffs due to laches and equitable estoppel, dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is reversed where: 1) under the Supreme Court's decision in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., declaratory judgment plaintiffs do not need to establish a reasonable apprehension of a lawsuit in order to establish that there is an actual controversy between the parties; 2) the plaintiffs demonstrated that there are actual controversies between defendant and each of the plaintiffs within the meaning of the Declaratory Judgment Act; and 3) the district court abused its discretion in declining jurisdiction on discretionary grounds.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/03/2007
• Published 08/03/2007

Judges

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel