In the 1982 case of General Motors Corp. v. Devex Corp., the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Devex Corporation and its subsidiaries, who had accused General Motors (GM) of patent infringement regarding a certain type of automatic transmission part. The central issue was whether or not GM should pay interest on damages from the time when they were first notified about their alleged infringement to the date when judgment was actually entered by court - a period during which GM continued to use the patented invention without license or permission. The Supreme Court held that while it is not mandatory for courts to award such pre-judgment interest in every patent dispute, it would be justified under normal circumstances unless exceptional circumstances exist that make an award unjust. In this particular case, no such exceptional circumstance existed; therefore, GM was ordered to pay pre-judgment interest.

In the dissenting opinion for General Motors Corp. v. Devex Corp., Justice Powell, joined by Chief Justice Burger and Justice Rehnquist, argued that interest should not be automatically awarded from the date of infringement in patent cases. They contended that such a rule would unjustly enrich patent holders at the expense of alleged infringers who acted in good faith or had reasonable grounds to believe they were not infringing any valid patents. The dissenters believed that awarding prejudgment interest should be left to the discretion of district courts based on equitable considerations rather than being mandated as an absolute right under federal law. They also expressed concern about potential negative impacts on innovation and competition if businesses faced automatic financial penalties whenever their actions were later found to have infringed upon existing patents.