In the case of Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation et al., 1970, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a patent holder who had previously lost a lawsuit over its patent's validity could not bring another suit against a different defendant for infringing on the same patent. The court held that such actions were barred by collateral estoppel (also known as issue preclusion), which prevents an issue from being relitigated once it has been resolved in an earlier proceeding between different parties. This decision marked a significant shift away from previous practice where each alleged infringement was treated separately regardless of prior litigation outcomes involving the same patent.

In the dissenting opinion for Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation et al., Justice Black disagreed with the majority's decision to allow a defendant in a patent infringement case to use collateral estoppel against a plaintiff who had previously lost on identical issues in another court. He argued that this ruling would unfairly disadvantage small inventors and favor large corporations, as it could prevent them from asserting their patents if they lose an initial lawsuit due to lack of resources or poor legal representation. Furthermore, he expressed concern about the potential for inconsistency and unpredictability in patent law decisions resulting from different courts interpreting complex scientific evidence differently.