Federal Circuit Finds Jurisdiction Lacking in Declaratory Judgment Action Seeking to Avoid Patent Infringement Suit

Per U.S. Law Week, Volume 77, Number 8, Tuesday, August 26, 2008:

A company's desire to determine whether its product infringed patents held by a competitor did not create a case or controversy sufficient to support the district court's exercising jurisdiction over the company's declaratory judgment action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held Aug. 15 (Prasco LLC v. Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., Fed. Cir., No. 2007-1524, 8/15/08).

Along the way, the opinion by Judge Arthur J. Gajarsa explored some of the contours of the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in MedImmune Inc. v. Genentech Inc., 549 U.S. 118, 75 U.S.L.W. 4034 (2007), that the proper test for subject matter jurisdiction in declaratory judgment actions is "whether the facts alleged, under all the circumstances, show that there is a substantial controversy, between the parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant issuance of a declaratory judgment."

BNA subscribers may view the full article on the case here.