1. A person’s tacit or passive acceptance; implied consent to an act.
commercial acquiescence. Patents. Action or inaction by a patentee’s competitor that reflects the competitor’s belief that the patent is valid. • A patent owner may use another person’s actions or inactions, such as taking a license or attempting to design around a patent, as circumstantial evidence of the nonobviousness of a patented invention or of a patent’s validity or enforceability. [Cases: Patents 36.1(1). C.J.S. Patents §§ 98–99.]
2. Int’l law. Passivity and inaction on foreign claims that, according to customary international law, usu. call for protest to assert, preserve, or safeguard rights. • The result is that binding legal effect is given to silence and inaction. Acquiescence, as a principle of substantive law, is grounded in the concepts of good faith and equity.
