McKool Smith principal Nick Matich provided commentary to the IPWatchdog’s article, “Industry Commenters Say Minerva Ruling is a Win for Employee Mobility.” The article collected multiple commentator’s opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in the Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., Cytyc Surgical Products, LLC. Nick said, “The court added some dicta—apparently suggested by the government—about how the doctrine should apply in the context of assignments during employment. The court suggested that since when an employee agrees to assign his invention to an employer, the employee doesn’t know what if anything he will invent, assignor estoppel should not apply. While that’s certainly true at the time an employee is on boarded, employment agreements are usually a promise later to assign an invention. Once the employee does invent something, he or she often works with the employer and makes the types of representations that the court said might trigger estoppel. It will be interesting to see how that scenario plays out in future cases.” Read the article here.
