Baladevon, Inc. v. Abbott Laboratories, Inc.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

SARIS, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This case marks the crossroads of patent and contract law. Plaintiff seeks to enforce an agreement which assigned patent, trademark and other non-patent rights in a device which was potentially patentable, but not yet patented. When the patents which subsequently issued on the device became generally recognized as invalid, defendant terminated payment of the royalties due under the assignment, but continued manufacturing the device and exercising other non-patent rights, notably trademark…