Federal Circuit Holds That Purchaser Has Standing To Bring Walker Process Antitrust Claim

In Ritz Camera & Image, LLC v. Sandisk Corp., the Federal Circuit held that a direct purchaser of a patented product has standing to bring a Walker Process antitrust claim, even if it does not have standing to bring a declaratory judgment action to invalidate the patent. The case reached the court on an interlocutory appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District Of California.

Walker Process Antitrust Claims

A "Walker Process" antitrust claim is based on the 1965 Supreme Court decision in Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp., where the Court held that "antitrust liability may attach when a party uses a patent to obtain or preserve a monopoly if the patent was procured through intentional fraud on the Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO")."