Law360, New York ( October 3, 2012, 2:26 PM EDT) -- It is well established in the United States that a patent holder generally has broad discretion to determine how it uses or licenses it patents. The U.S. Supreme Court's bottom-line principle expressed in Trinko — that companies are free to refuse to deal with anyone — applies to intellectual property as is does to other property rights.[1] As the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have expressed, "the unilateral right to refuse to grant a patent license is a core part of the patent grant."[2] And as patent holders generally are free to refuse to license their patents, they also generally are free to impose any restrictions they wish on licenses that they do grant.[3]...