The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week in two intellectual property cases: Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands, on the copyrightability of design in functional items such as clothing, and SCA Hygiene Products v. First Quality Baby Products, on whether the equitable defense of laches can be used to block untimely patent lawsuits. We offer five takeaways from the court’s IP docket this week.

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2. On the other hand, Breyer is all over the tech industry-side amicus briefs. Dechert partner Martin Black sounded surprised when Breyer seemed to accuse his client of being a patent troll. “SCA is no patent troll,” Black said. “It’s an operating company.” Breyer clarified that he was thinking of an example from an amicus curiae brief filed by Dell and two dozen other tech giants.

During the copyright case, Breyer asked Eric Feigin of the solicitor general’s office, “What about Lemley’s test on page 17 of his brief?” He was referring to Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley, who submitted an amicus brief on behalf of himself and seven other intellectual property professors. “All the professors are there,” Breyer said, “and that’s why I thought probably you’ve read it.”