Xechem International, Inc. v. University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

382 F.3d 1324 (2004)

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Xechem International, Inc. v. University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
382 F.3d 1324 (2004)

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Facts

Xechem International, Inc. (Xechem) (plaintiff), a biopharmaceutical company, worked with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (university) (defendant), a Texas-owned entity, to develop a new cancer drug. Xechem filed a patent application naming one of its employees and one of the university’s employees as joint inventors. The university objected to the joint inventorship designation and filed its own application, naming its employee as a sole inventor. In addition, Xechem and the university entered into a license agreement giving Xechem an exclusive license to manufacture and market the drug. Neither the license agreement nor the research agreement Xechem and the university signed contained language allowing Xechem to sue the university. The university’s patent application was granted with its employee listed as the sole inventor. Subsequently, the university informed Xechem that it considered the license agreement to have terminated. Xechem sued the university, claiming that Xechem’s employee should also be listed as an inventor. The lower court dismissed the case, finding that the university was immune from suit as a state actor under the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. Xechem appealed, arguing that the university waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity by entering into commercial research and license agreements with Xechem.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Newman, J.)

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