Calgon Corp. v. Nalco Chemical Co.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• stating that “[j]ust as the right to alienate personal property is an essential indicia of ownership, the right to further assign patent rights is implicit in any true assignment”
• stating that “[j]ust as the right to alienate personal property is an essential indicia of ownership, the right to further assign patent rights is implicit in any true assignment”
• “[T]he patent holder or assignee is a necessary party to an infringement action in order to achieve consistency of interpretation and to avoid multiplicity of litigation. Under federal law, the patentee is the real party in interest in such litigation.”
• “We will also give Calgon leave to file a Rule 19 motion to join Kurita as an involuntary plaintiff within the 30 days if Calgon should determine that Kurita will not enter a voluntary appearance.”
• even though it was unclear whether plaintiff had complied with conditions in agreement to sue in own name, “[a]t any rate” the agreement did not grant plaintiff equal footing with the title holder regarding the right to sue
• transferee lacked standing where the transferor and its affiliates retained the right to make and market products under the patent in the United States and the transferor retained a veto power over assignment and right of first refusal to sue for infringement

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).