Cyrillic Partners

It’s illegal to sue the University of California for patent infringements because the school is protected under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

I’ve been hearing how frustrating this can be from entrepreneurs who have dealt with the school first hand.

I’m no strict constructionist, but I have to agree with this assessment of the silly protection, excerpted from the WSJ:

Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley: “The underlying problem is that the Supreme Court is applying an antiquated doctrine — the 11th Amendment — to circumstances in which it was never intended to apply,” he says. “The Framers never contemplated states suing people for patent infringement.”

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