MedImmune beats Centocor at Supreme Court on Jan. 16

Following its win over Genentech on Jan. 9, MedImmune prevailed over J&J's Centocor on Jan. 16 with the Supreme Court saying it can pursue a patent case against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Centocor Inc. in a lower federal court, even though MedImmune is continuing to pay royalties on a patent held by Centocor.

Both the Genentech and Centocor cases presented the issue of whether a company licensing a patent (a licensee) from another company (licensor) must take the risk of violating the license contract (becoming an infringer) in order to challenge the validity of the patent. Now, a licensee in good standing may challenge the validity of the licensor's patent through a declaratory judgment (DJ) action.