More than sixty years after deciding Brulotte v. Thys Co., the Supreme Court revisited the issue of post-expiration patent royalties in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment LLC. Despite fifty years of unrelenting criticism, the Supreme Court declined to abandon Brulotte's per se ban on patent licenses extending royalties beyond expiration of the patent. In this article, Gracie K. Mills and Jessica L. Roberts, Ph.D. recap Brulotte, explore Marvel's impact on the per se ban, and offers practical tips for maximizing flexibility in negotiating patent licenses within the Brulotte framework.
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