In Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overrule its earlier decision in Brulotte v. Thys Co. that a patent owner cannot charge royalties for use of a patented invention after the patent term expires.
Brulotte has been the law for fifty years so I don't think this recent decision is that surprising. Perhaps more interesting is the fact the Supreme Court granted little credit to the economic arguments raised to overrule Brulotte and the idea "bad economics" should trump long standing US patent law.
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