A Patent License by Purchase Order

Patent – Patently-O 2026-11-03

by Dennis Crouch

The Federal Circuit hears argument Tuesday (Nov 3) in Vicor Corp. v. ITC, No. 25-1616. The key issue focuses on UCC and contract law: Did Vicor grant Foxconn a perpetual, royalty-free patent license when a Vicor salesperson answered a purchase order with a list of ship dates?

Figure 1 of U.S. Patent No. 9,516,761 showing an encapsulated power converter module with heat-sink fins

The ITC said yes - reversing its own ALJ and rejecting the position of the ITC's Office of Unfair Import Investigations. Judge Sorokin (D. Mass.), who considered the same contract in a different case, had also come out the other way.

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