The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently decided two cases involving Walker Process antitrust claims. In one case the Court clarified the types of threats that could subject a fraudulent patent holder to Walker Process antitrust liability, holding that a patent obtained by fraud could lead to an antitrust violation in which the patent holder threatened to enforce the patent against the plaintiff’s customers, but made no enforcement threats directly against the plaintiff. Hydril Co. v. Grant Prideco LP, Case No. 2006-1188 (Fed. Cir., Jan. 25, 2007) (Friedman, Sr. J.; Mayer, J., dissenting).
In the other case, the Federal Circuit shed light on what conduct constitutes the fraud necessary to form the basis for a Walker Process claim. The Federal Circuit dismissed a Walker Process antitrust claim in which the patent holder’s omission to the Patent Office, while material and resulting in an unenforceable patent, did not rise to the level of fraud necessary to support a Wa
