Aronson v. Quick Point Pencil Co.
United States Supreme Court
440 U.S. 257 (1979)
Relevant factsFree
Aronson (plaintiff) licensed her pending keyholder design to Quick Point (defendant) for a 5% royalty, reduced to 2.5% if no patent issued within five years; her application was ultimately rejected, Quick Point paid the reduced royalty for fourteen years, then sought a declaratory judgment that continuing to pay any royalty was preempted by federal patent law once the patent was denied.
IssueFree
Whether federal patent law preempts commercial agreements solely because the agreements feature potentially patentable intellectual property.
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