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Some have wondered whether Professor Arti Rai of Duke Law School has any plans to throw her hat into the ring when a future vacancy arises for the Federal Circuit.  She recently delivered a guest lecture on her research at Duke that is available on YouTube.  It is interesting to note her comment at about the 38:11-39:00 minute mark of the video that she is “very glad to be back in paradise.”  That would seem to give some insight into the issue.

The Federal Circuit issued its en banc opinion today in Therasense v. Becton Dickinson.  This is my favorite sound bite from the en banc oral argument: [Listen].

It would seem that the Federal Circuit’s newest member, Judge Reyna, was the deciding vote for the majority.

You can listen to the entire oral argument here: [Listen].

You can read the en banc opinion here: [Read].

The Boston Patent Law Association will be presenting Circuit Judge Alan Lourie with its Distinguished Public Service Award on June 10, 2011.  You can see more details on the announcements page of the Federal Circuit web site.

Chief Judge Rader once remarked during oral argument that he enjoyed the music of the Beatles and ABBA.    No word on whether he is also a fan of that recording artist who went by the name of Judge Learned Hand.  Yes, Judge Hand actually appears on the album “A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings” singing the folk tune “Iron Merrimac.”  You can hear an excerpt of that recording at this link: [Link].  You can download the full version from Amazon.com at this link: [Link].  He also recorded the song “Phil Sheridan” which is available at this link: [Link].

The Ninth Circuit recently posted the video of the oral argument for Facebook v. Connectu, Inc., 2008-16873 (9th Cir. April 11, 2011).  In addition to being of interest generally, the video also features Joshua Rosenkranz of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, one of the top appellate advocates in the country who frequently argues before the Federal Circuit.  In this case, he represented Facebook/Zuckerberg, the plaintiff-appellee.

The link to the video is available here: [Link].

In the recent oral argument of Juniper Networks, Inc. v. Shipley, 2010-1327 (Fed. Cir. April 29, 2011),  Chief Judge Rader asked Juniper’s counsel if a court should take into consideration a party’s motives for bringing a false marking action, such as bringing a case only to gain leverage by driving up costs as much as possible.  Juniper’s counsel noted that if the court were to probe the motives of a plaintiff then it should similarly consider the motives of the defendant in related litigation.  You can listen to Chief Judge Rader’s policy comments here: [Listen].

You can listen to the entire oral argument here: [Listen].

You can read the court’s opinion here: [Read].

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Edward C. DuMont’s original nomination to the Federal Circuit.  He still has yet to receive a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Edward C. DuMont
U.S. Circuit Judge, Federal Circuit
Nominated: Jan. 5, 2011 (April 14, 2010)
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Committee Questionnaire Update
Hearing Date:
Questions For The Record
Reported By Committee:
Returned To President: December 22, 2010
Confirmed By Senate:

The 9th Circuit released its decision in Facebook et al. v. Connectu, Inc., 08-16873 (9th Cir. April 11, 2011) concerning a disputed settlement agreement in the lawsuit regarding who came up with the idea for the social networking site Facebook.

The 9th Circuit  decision is available here: [Read].

The 9th Circuit oral argument is available here: [Listen].

The Federal Circuit has issued this order indicating that it will remain open for business and fully staffed until at least April 22, 2011 in the event of a Federal Government shutdown [Order].

Judge Jimmie V. Reyna was sworn in as the newest circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday. Judge Reyna was sworn-in by Chief Judge Rader.

Judge Reyna was nominated to the court by President Obama on February 16, 2011 and confirmed by the Senate on April 4, 2011.

The Federal Circuit heard oral argument today in Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

You can listen to the entire oral argument here: [Listen].

The oral argument is broken down into its constituent parts below:

Opening argument for Myriad Genetics and Directors of the University of Utah Research Foundation: [Listen].

Argument for American Civil Liberties Union: [Listen].

Argument for USPTO: [Listen]

Rebuttal argument for Myriad Genetics and Directors of the University of Utah Research Foundation: [Listen].

Hal Wegner reported yesterday in his daily listserv that the final rule for prioritized patent examination would be published in the Federal Register today.

Here is the Federal Register notice published today for the final rule for “Changes to Implement the Prioritized Examination Track (Track I) of the Enhanced Examination Timing Control Procedures”: [Final Rule].

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If you happen to be in Denver on April 14, 2011, you might want to attend the Colorado Bar Association’s monthly IP section meeting.  The Honorable Paul Michel, former Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, will be speaking on “What Patent Reform Legislation Will Mean for Clients and How You Can Protect Them.” 

More details are available here: [Details].

The Kauffman Foundation released an interesting report this month on the entrepreneurial activity in the United States.  Apparently, entrepreneurial activity in 2010 was the highest since 1996.  The link to the report is available here: [Link].  I found the interactive map and chart of entrepreneurial activity by state to be particularly interesting. 

Nevada, Georgia, California, Louisiana, and Colorado were noted as having the highest level of entrepreneurial activity.  Kudos to Mississippi, a perennial cellar dweller in so many other surveys, which had an entrepreneurial ranking near the top of the list.  You can access the chart here to see how your state ranks: [Link].

As far as major metropolitan areas are concerned, Los Angeles, Houston, and Atlanta took home the top three spots for entrepreneurial activity.