After enjoying nearly a decade of protection, states' immunity to intellectual property lawsuits is being challenged in the federal courts. The petitioner in the case, Biomedical Patent Management Corporation, claims that sovereign immunity laws (Nat. Biotechnol. 18, 101, 2000) unfairly shield states—including state universities and research institutions—from patent infringement while allowing them to enforce their own patent rights. The petition argues that, by regularly using the court system to pursue alleged violations from the private sector, universities waive that immunity. In April, the Supreme Court asked the government to comment on the petition before making a decision—a sign that the Court will seriously consider taking the case, say experts. The outcome could have broad implications for biotech companies whose efforts to enforce their own patent rights are often thwarted by courts upholding states' immunity laws. For example, since 1990, six patent actions have been brought against California, and in each case the state raised its patent shield. In the same period, the University of California filed with the courts at least 14 patent infringement suits, according to Biomedical Patent Management Corporation. “You can say it's unfair,” says Stephen Albainy-Jenei, a patent attorney with Frost Brown Todd in Cincinnati. “But the university people involved will say it's the law and that they are just making use of it.”