35 U.S.C. § 285
Section 285 · Attorney fees
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 1,507 court decisions — leading case Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society (1975)
Most recently applied in Ps Products Inc. v. Panther Trading Co. Inc. (December 2024)
Applied most in the Federal Circuit Circuit (178 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 35 U.S.C. § 102 · 35 U.S.C. § 103 · 35 U.S.C. § 284
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The court in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on Title 35, U.S.C., 1946 ed., §70, part (R.S. 4921, amended (1) Mar. 3, 1897, ch. 391, §6, 29 Stat. 694, (2) Feb. 18, 1922, ch. 58, §8, 42 Stat. 392, (3) Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 726, §1, 60 Stat. 778).
This section is substantially the same as the corresponding provision in R.S. 4921; “in exceptional cases” has been added as expressing the intention of the present statute as shown by its legislative history and as interpreted by the courts.