The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was created to provide much-needed clarity and consistency to the nation’s patent law. In prior decades, the law had become hopelessly confused and incoherent due to disparate decisions of the regional courts of appeals. Two successive presidential commissions called for rectifying the situation because U.S. industrial competitiveness was lagging, and industries were faltering as a result of the weakness that had compromised the effectiveness of the patent system. For the previous century-and-a-half it had helped transform the country from a poor, agrarian land into the most advanced, powerful and wealthy nation on earth. In the 20th Century, nearly every significant scientific invention was created in America. But that was beginning to fade in the 1970s and beyond. Congress responded in 1982 by creating the Federal Circuit to hear all patent appeals…. These welcome developments increased incentives to invest in expensive research and development and the even more costly process of commercializing new inventions, putting new cures, products and services into the public’s hands and onto store shelves. In just the last few years, those incentives have lagged again due to sudden increases in uncertainty in the patent system, particularly regarding eligibility.
Litigation
- U.S. Government Sides with Teva in Skinny Label SCOTUS Fight
- What I’ll Be Watching for in the Amgen Oral Arguments
- A Dog’s Day in Court: Implications of the ‘Bad Spaniels’ Arguments on Parody Determinations and Noncommercial Use
- SCOTUS Skeptical that Bad Spaniels is Parody, But Questions Need to Overturn Rogers
- Justices Seek Abitron Parties’ Help in Articulating Bounds of Extraterritorial Application of Lanham Act
Recent Posts
- Other Barks & Bites for Friday, March 31: Japan Restricts Chip-Making Exports, Ocado Scores UK High Court Win in Robotic Warehousing Case, and Judge Rejects Fair Use Defense for Internet Archive
- U.S. Government Sides with Teva in Skinny Label SCOTUS Fight
- Industry, NGOs Spar Over Need to Extend TRIPS COVID IP Waiver at ITC Hearing
- Software-Related U.S. Patent Grants in 2022 Remained Steady While Chinese Software Patents Rose 8%
- The Truth Leaks Out: Justices Struggle with the Science, Sanofi Welcomes End to Functional Genus Claims in Amgen Oral Arguments