Could the Supreme Court push Congress to step up with legislation of its own around patent reform? Several observers believe that may be the case as the nine justices hear a patent case against eBay Inc. calling for a permanent injunction against its Buy it Now Feature filed by MercExchange.

A district court found that eBay willfully infringed upon some of MercExchange's patents and fined it $35 million. A U.S. court of Appeals reversed part of the decision, invalidated one of the patents and threw out the damages. However, MercExchange is still calling for a permanent injunction. It may get one, according to Dennis Crouch, a patent attorney at the law firm of McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP in Chicago.

Another view comes from J. Matthew Buchanan with IP law firm Dunlap, Codding & Rogers PC, who writes that regardless of whether the Supreme Court decides to grant an injunction against eBay based on its infringement, the decision should prompt Congress to act.

Patent reform isn't quite as hot a topic as immigration in American politics, but fixing the patent systems is vital to helping both businesses and inventors know where they stand when it comes to their IP. And in the end that helps everyone. — Stacey Higginbotham

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