Senators Introduce Bill to Abrogate Tribal Sovereign Immunity

By Kevin E. Noonan — In a development that could moot (once and for all) the controversy over tribal sovereign immunity occasioned by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe's ownership of patents relating to Allergan's Restasis formulation for treating disorders of the eye, a group of Senators including Tom Cotton (R-AK), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and David Perdue (R-GA) introduced a bill to broadly abrogate assertion of tribal sovereign immunity in any patent-related proceeding. The bill, entitled the Preserving Access to Cost Effective Drugs (PACED) Act, provides that tribal sovereign immunity cannot be asserted: • In…Original Article