The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in two cases that could make it considerably easier for courts to impose sanctions on plaintiffs that bring “baseless” patent suits, a shift that attorneys say could cut down on suits by so-called patent trolls.
The petitioners in the separate cases are asking the justices to relax the standard for awarding attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party as a sanction when the judge deems a case “exceptional” and to rule that such awards are entitled to deference on appeal, making them difficult to overturn.