Florida Pre-paid v. College Savings Bank

Supreme Court rules on state sovereign immunity for patent infringement.

Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expenses Board v. College Savings Bank. In this case, Florida Prepaid, a Florida state entity, sought to dismiss a claim against it for patent infringement, on the ground of state sovereign immunity under the 11th Amendment.

The district court and the Federal circuit both ruled in favor of the plaintiff, denying Florida Prepaid's motion. Today's Supreme Court case reverses those decisions, and permits a state entity to avoid infringement on 11th Amendment grounds.

The court also held that the 14th Amendment's prohibition on taking property (including, it was argued, a patent property right) without compensation did not provide a away around the immunity.

The decision was 5-4, with Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas in the majority and Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer in the minority.

The syllabus of Rehnquist's majority opinion, as well as pointers to the full opinion and to Stevens' minority opinion, is online at <http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-531.ZS.html>.

-- 
Terry Carroll         |
Santa Clara, CA       |            There are 81 days remaining
carroll[_at_]tjc.com       |
Modell delendus est   |