Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/05pdf/05-130.pdf
Page Number: 5.0

Cite as:  547 U. S. ____ (2006) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Barcelo, 456 U. S., at 320. 

These  familiar  principles  apply  with  equal  force  to 
disputes arising under the Patent Act.  As this Court has 
long  recognized,  “a  major  departure  from  the  long  tradi-
tion  of  equity  practice  should  not  be  lightly  implied.” 
Ibid.;  see  also  Amoco,  supra,  at  542.    Nothing  in  the  Pat-
ent  Act  indicates  that  Congress  intended  such  a  depar-
ture.  To  the  contrary,  the  Patent  Act  expressly  provides 
that injunctions “may” issue “in accordance with the prin-
ciples of equity.”  35 U. S. C. §283.2 

To  be  sure,  the  Patent  Act  also  declares  that  “patents
shall  have  the  attributes  of  personal  property,”  §261, 
including “the right to exclude others from making, using,
offering  for  sale,  or  selling  the  invention,”  §154(a)(1). 
According  to  the  Court  of  Appeals,  this  statutory  right  to
exclude  alone  justifies  its  general  rule  in  favor  of  perma-
nent injunctive relief.  401 F. 3d, at 1338.  But the creation 
of  a  right  is  distinct  from  the  provision  of  remedies  for
violations  of  that  right.    Indeed,  the  Patent  Act  itself 
indicates that patents shall have the attributes of personal
property  “[s]ubject  to  the  provisions  of  this  title,”  35
U. S. C.  §261,  including,  presumably,  the  provision  that 
injunctive  relief  “may”  issue  only  “in  accordance  with  the 
principles of equity,” §283.

This  approach  is  consistent  with  our  treatment  of  in-
junctions under the Copyright Act.  Like a patent owner, a 
copyright  holder  possesses  “the  right  to  exclude  others 
from  using  his  property.”  Fox  Film  Corp.  v.  Doyal,  286 
U. S.  123,  127  (1932);  see  also  id.,  at  127–128  (“A  copy-
right, like a patent, is at once the equivalent given by the 
public for benefits bestowed by the genius and meditations 

—————— 

2 Section 283 provides that “[t]he several courts having jurisdiction of 
cases  under  this  title  may  grant  injunctions  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  equity  to  prevent  the  violation  of  any  right  secured  by
patent, on such terms as the court deems reasonable.”