Believe it or not, the twentieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in eBay v. MercExchange is quickly approaching — it will be twenty years in May of 2026. The oral argument in this case took place before oral arguments of the Supreme Court were timely available. I thought it might be of interest to some to post the oral argument.
With almost twenty years of hindsight, I found it interesting to look back on some of the judges’ comments.
You can listen to the oral argument here:
Here are some sound bites from the oral argument:
Justice Scalia on the patent right:
Chief Justice Roberts on the improper concern over business method patents:
Justice Breyer’s concern that in 2006 A&P might patent the method of running a supermarket — and some people say that the Supreme Court doesn’t understand patent law . . . . :
Seth Waxman referencing “self-proclaimed” intellectual property professors signing on to amicus briefs: