Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in LG v. Quanta

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the LG v. Quanta case, a case dealing with the doctrine of patent exhaustion. This is an incredibly important decision because it may transform how patent licenses are drafted and negotiated. Many believe that the Supremes will rule in favor of Quanta, overturning the Federal Circuit's decision, holding that patent rights covering methods or system claims are exhausted when the thing used to carry out that system or method is sold. Here is a link to the oral argument transcripts. Patent Troll Tracker had this to say about the arguments:

"It's very hard to read Supreme Court tea leaves. In this case, though, I think that Justices Roberts, Stevens, and especially Breyer honed in on exactly the problem with the Federal Circuit's opinion in LG. Justices Alito and Thomas were completely quiet. Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg and Souter asked questions, but without really revealing which way they were leaning, although Justice Scalia did seem to discount that LG/Intel's notice meant anything, and Justice Ginsburg picked up on the fact that LG could have expressly conditioned its license requiring Intel to sell products only to licensed companies. So, on balance, I'd say the Court appears to be leaning towards overturning the Federal Circuit, but perhaps only slightly, and I certainly won't be surprised if it's a 5-4 or 6-3 decision the other way. And who knows what the scope of the opinion will be? Should be interesting."