Patent rights provide injunctions
Skelton 83 [Byron George Skelton, Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, “SMITH INTERNATIONAL, INC., a California corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HUGHES TOOL COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, Defendant-Appellant.”, Appeal No. 83-677, United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, October 6, 1983, //zrubin]
The grant of a patent is the grant of the right to invoke the state's power in order to exclude others from utilizing the patentee's discovery without his consent. Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, 395 U.S. 100, 135, 89 S.Ct. 1562, 1582, 23 L.Ed.2d 129 (1969); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Stiffel Co., 376 U.S. 225, 229, 84 S.Ct. 784, 787, 11 L.Ed.2d 661, reh. denied, 376 U.S. 973, 84 S.Ct. 1131, 12 L.Ed.2d 87 (1964); Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co., 210 U.S. 405, 430, 28 S.Ct. 748, 756, 52 L.Ed. 1122 (1908). Protection of this right to exclude has been provided by Congress through 35 U.S.C. § 283, inter alia, which provides that injunctions may be granted under the principles of equity to "prevent the violation of any rights secured by patent, on such terms as the court deems reasonable." Without this injunctive power of the courts, the right to exclude granted by the patent would be diminished, and the express purpose of the Constitution and Congress, to promote the progress of the useful arts, 1578*1578 would be seriously undermined. The patent owner would lack much of the "leverage," afforded by the right to exclude, to enjoy the full value of his invention in the market place. Without the right to obtain an injunction, the right to exclude granted to the patentee would have only a fraction of the value it was intended to have, and would no longer be as great an incentive to engage in the toils of scientific and technological research.