When it Comes to Asserting the Defense of Laches, Patent Infringers are Out of Time

In SCA Hygiene Products v. First Quality Baby Products, the Supreme Court recently ended over a 100 years of application of the equitable doctrine of laches in patent infringement cases. Thus, an accused infringer can no longer invoke laches as a defense if the alleged infringement occurred within six years of being sued. In reaching its decision, the main issue in front of the Court was whether its 2014 decision on laches in the copyright infringement context, Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., was also applicable to patent infringement. The Court held that it was.

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