Independent Ink: Supreme Court Lowers Antitrust Barriers to IP Tying and Bundling Arrangements

Kelley Drye’s Antitrust Practice Group has prepared a client advisory. The Supreme Court has reconsidered its prior thinking on the competitive impact of patents. In Illinois Tool Works, Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc.,126 S. Ct. 1281 (2006), the Court decisively rejected the presumption in antitrust tying cases that a patent confers market power. This substantial shifting of the evidentiary burden can be expected to reduce, if not completely eliminate, the routine filing of antitrust tying claims as a counter to allegations of patent infringement.