U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Nokia in InterDigital Case

After pleadings from both InterDigital and President Obama not to hear the case, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of InterDigital in a pivotal matter on import bans. Nokia argued that because InterDigital is an NPE, and thus not part of a domestic industry, they had no claim to ban imports of Nokia products. The Supreme Court stated that patent licensing is an industry of itself and made it clear that Nokia would need to pay royalties or face import restrictions. 

Going forward, the Supreme Court has set an interesting precedent in protecting patent assertion entities in the same way they would any other industry.While certanily a controversial decision, the High Court has made it clear that they will not budge on patent laws, no matter what the operating nature of the plaintiff is. At the end of the day, the most important thing is the validity of the patent itself.