Dirk Bernhardt

The Federal Circuit issued its long-awaited decision in Google LLC v. Sonos, Inc. on August 28, 2025,  providing guidance on the doctrine of prosecution laches. As the first U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision on prosecution laches for a patent issued after 1995—when patent terms changed from 17-years-from issuance to 20-years-from filing—some suspected the Federal Circuit might definitively end the prosecution laches doctrine. Although prosecution laches remains a valid equitable defense, the Federal Circuit placed significant limitations on its applicability.

U.S. courts have long established that the owner of a product protected by a U.S. patent has the right to repair the product under the patent exhaustion doctrine (a.k.a. first-sale doctrine), under which the right to repair is generally interpreted to be a very broad right under U.S. patent law. A purchaser of the patented product may face some restrictions (e.g., preventing reconstruction of the item that goes well beyond simple wear-and-tear repairs), but overall courts have determined most modifications fall under the category of repair. This right to repair includes the right to select who repairs the product. But what happens when the product is purchased under a contract that includes a limitation on the right to repair, such as requiring the purchaser to use only the patent owner for repairs or prohibiting repair altogether?