Noah Feldman, Columnist

Supreme Court Asserts Itself and Patent Trolls Win

The Federal Circuit gets put in its place, but it could come at a cost.

June 14, 2016 at 4:24 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

And don't you forget it.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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In what has become a U.S. Supreme Court ritual in recent years, the justices Monday smacked down a patent-law precedent created by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the unusual appellate court that specializes in patent law. The high court’s decision makes it easier for patent holders to get higher damages against willful patent infringers.

It’s a win for discretion over strict rules, as well as for patent holders over infringers. But it may also be a win for patent trolls, who will now more easily be able to add the threat of higher damages to their existing shakedown schemes.