FedCircuitBlog

This afternoon, the Federal Circuit announced the swearing-in of its newest Judge, the Honorable Leonard P. Stark. Judge Stark served as Chief Judge for the District of Delaware from 2014 to 2021. In that time he presided over hundreds of patent cases and will, as a result, bring a wealth of experience in patent cases to the bench of the Federal Circuit. We congratulate Judge Stark and look forward to his service at the Federal Circuit. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

This afternoon the Federal Circuit announced Kathleen O’Malley’s retirement from the Federal Circuit. Judge O’Malley served on the bench of the Federal Circuit for over eleven years, after serving over sixteen years as a district court judge. In her service at the Federal Circuit, she took part in many important cases. As just one example, Judge O’Malley authored the court’s opinion in Oracle America, Inc. v. Google LLC concerning copyright law in the context of Oracle’s Java application programming interface. We wish her well in retirement. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

Last Friday, the Federal Circuit announced its celebration of Women’s History Month by hosting a panel of the court’s female judges, including Chief Judge Moore and Judges Newman, Prost, Stoll, Cunningham, and O’Malley. We are thankful for these Judges’ contributions to the court and join the court in celebrating Women’s History Month. Here is the full text of last week’s announcement as well as a picture commemorating the event.

This morning the Federal Circuit announced that its clerk’s office was awarded a certification for operational efficiencies by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). In the announcement the Federal Circuit applauds the clerk’s office for reducing internal processing times for cases. Here is the text of today’s announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a notice of amendments to the court’s Internal Operating Procedures. Notably, the amendments delete the indication that copies of opinions will be circulated to the court’s “senior technical assistant” who, “if requested . . . shall provide information on potential conflicts between the panel-approved opinion and any other prior opinions of the court or other relevant precedents.” Beyond that amendment, several other amendments relate to the ability of panels to withdraw and recirculate altered opinions. The amendments also make clear that panel reconsideration of an opinion withdraws any pending poll for rehearing en banc. Here is the text of today’s announcement with links to redlined and clean copies of the IPOs.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a “Notice of Resumption of In-Person Arguments for the March 2022 Session.” This announcement follows a previous notice indicating that all arguments for the February session would be conducted via video conference. In short, in March the court is resuming in-person arguments, limiting attendance, and adhering to its revised protocols for these arguments. Notably, the court has not made it clear whether in-person arguments will continue beyond the March session. Here is the text of today’s announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a notice that its 2022 Judicial Conference, originally scheduled for April 1, has now been moved to September 9, 2022. The court will no longer be sitting for oral argument on September 9, and the calendar has been updated on its website. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

Yesterday the Federal Circuit released a “Notice of Revised Building Access Restrictions and Protocols for In-Person Argument.” In addition to previous protocols released on October 25, 2021, the court has added a new building-wide mask requirement and various other restrictions for the National Courts Building. The court also issued revised protocols for in-person argument that includes mask mandates, attendance limitations, and health certifications that will apply once in-person argument resumes. Here is the text of the announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a “Notice of Change to February 2022 Session.” In it, the court announced that it will be conducting all scheduled arguments for the February 2022 session by video conference, with a simultaneous live audio stream of each argument broadcast via the court’s YouTube channel. Here is the text of today’s announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit announced that a read-aloud service is now available on the Federal Circuit website. The service is intended to provide an accessibility tool for users who have trouble reading, have visual impairments, or other limitations accessing information. Here is the text of today’s announcement.