basically means -in laymans terms-that the actioncan not be brouhgt back to court.

yes your example cited is one reason but another reason is that assume A sues B for I don;tknow let's say patent infringment.

And they spend a long time fighting before going to trial and then A & B settle

and make an agreement and have a memory of understanding that will be

monitored by the court.

Well if they did indeed settle then the court does not want to have the issue

back in front of it again for another 2 years of wrangling so it is dismissed with prejudice.

Now if you look back at the FUji and 1st Nec and Sony settlements you;ll see teh same langguage.

Why, well if the USPTO invalidates teh patents then teh J's reserve the right to ask for summary judgement as they did in California. SO that right is still retained

But since we all know the patents are valid we know it's a worthless right, right?

Well at least that'steh gamble we take.However,if USPTO dissapoints then as I said before teh money will have been widely distributed and not recoverabel in a practical sense.