Having an exclusive patent license should mean that the licensee has the right to enforce that patent against potential infringers, right? Yes, but the license has to be exclusive.
In a recent opinion, Judge Connolly held that if another entity—even an affiliate company—has the ability to grant a patent license to the defendant, then the plaintiff did not possess standing to bring a patent infringement action against that defendant without also joining the other entity.
Exclusive Licenses: Implied vs. Explicit
There are multiple varieties of "exclusive" licenses. A party may have an implied exclusive license, for example, if a contract gives the licensee the sole right to perform and prohibits the licensor from …
