Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:
- an article highlighting how “Kathi Vidal, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was confirmed by the Senate”;
- another article discussing how, “[a]s part of the ongoing confirmation process for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) submitted . . . 35 IP-related questions . . . and 15 antitrust questions” to Judge Jackson and how Judge Jackson has responded to those questions; and
- a third article identifying major trends in Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials.
Samantha Handler filed an article with Bloomberg Law noting that, “Kathi Vidal, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote on Tuesday.” Handler highlighted how Vidal will be “the first Senate-confirmed director since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year in United States v. Arthrex Inc. that the patent office leader has the power to overturn decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.”
Logan Murr and Eileen McDermott co-authored an article for IPWatchdog discussing how, “[a]s part of the ongoing confirmation process for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) submitted . . . 35 IP-related questions . . . and 15 antitrust questions” to Judge Jackson. Murr and McDermott noted how the IP-related questions address “topics ranging from patent eligibility to anti-suit injunctions” and how “Judge Jackson recently responded” to these questions. Murr and McDermott also highlighted Judge Jackson’s responses on topics of patent eligibility, artificial intelligence, copyright, and antitrust.
Lexology published an article by Brent Babcock presenting and explaining major trends in Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials. Babcock noted that “[e]ffective use of proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the tribunal of administrative patent judges (APJs) at the USPTO, is now part of nearly every effective patent enforcement and defense strategy.”