Opinion ID: 781032
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Patent Ownership

Text: 67 We also find that the defendants waived the right to contest the plaintiffs' title to the patent, insofar as lack of ownership is viewed as a defense to the claim of infringement. 68 Under the Patent Act, only a patentee shall have a remedy by civil action for infringement of his patent. 35 U.S.C. § 281 (2000). The word patentee includes successors in title to the patentee, 35 U.S.C. § 100(d), and exclusive licensees holding all substantial rights to the patent. Prima Tek II, L.L.C. v. A-Roo Co., 222 F.3d 1372, 1377, 55 USPQ2d 1742, 1745 (Fed.Cir.2000). Accordingly, when the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment of infringement on August 31, 2001, they implicitly asserted ownership of the patent, which is a necessary prerequisite to winning a judgment of infringement. In opposing this motion, it was incumbent upon the defendants to raise the issue of lack of patent ownership. For the same reasons that we here hold that the individual liability of secondary defendants issue was waived, the district court was correct that the failure to raise the ownership issue in opposing summary judgment of infringement constituted a waiver of that issue as a defense to the plaintiffs' claim of infringement.