The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a high-stakes patent dispute over university ownership of inventions. This case, Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, may give justices another chance to reign in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

Top research universities have are joined by the Obama Justice Department in urging the Supreme Court to review this case, citing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs generated by invention licenses with universities stemming from federally funded research. 

In September of 2009, the federal circuit court ruled against Stanford’s claim of rights over an invention that measures the effectiveness of HIV treatments. Though the inventor did research under a grant by the National Institutes of Health, he was also working for a company later acquired by Roche, and he signed his rights to that company. Stanford claimed title to the invention under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, filing suit under the assertion that the company was infringing its patent in its marketing of HIV detection kits. The circuit sided with Roche, holding that Roche “possesses an ownership interest” and rejected Stanford’s claim. 

The decision by the Federal Circuit casts doubt on the rights of universities and the federal government to inventions arising from the hundreds of billions of dollars in research spending. More than 40 universities have joined filing briefs. 

The Supreme Court, which is known for being critical of Federal Circuit rulings recently, will hear arguments in the case early next year. 

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