Federal Circuit Issues A Splintered Ruling On The Eleventh Amendment Immunity And Rule 19 Joinder Analysis

On July 24, 2020, a panel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued splintered precedential opinions surrounding the interplay of state sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment and required joinder of parties under Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in a patent-in-suit infringement case in Gensetix, Inc. v. Baylor College of Medicine, et al.

Gensetix, an exclusive licensee to the patents-in-suit granted by the University of Texas, filed an infringement suit against Baylor and other defendants in the southern district of Texas. When the University declined to join the suit, Gensetix sought to join it as an involuntary plaintiff under Rule 19(a). The district court granted the University's Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss, holding the University had not waived its sovereign immunity and the Eleventh Amendment prohibited its involuntary joinder. The district court also concluded the University was an indispensable party under Rule