FedCircuitBlog

The Federal Circuit today announced that the court’s electronic filing system will be unavailable this weekend due to maintenance. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

Today the Federal Circuit announced that Chief Judge Moore appointed four people to three-year terms on the Federal Circuit’s Advisory Council. Two of the appointees are new to the Council: Jeremiah Helm, a Partner at Knobbe Martens whose practice focuses on patent litigation and appellate practice, and Patrick Keane, a Shareholder at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney whose practice focuses on intellectual property licensing, litigation, appeals, inter partes and post grant reviews, and development of intellectual property portfolios. Helm clerked for Chief Judge Moore, and Kean is Immediate Past-President of the Federal Circuit Bar Association. The other two appointees have previously served on the Council: Mel Bostwick, a Partner at Orrick whose practice focuses on patent appeals before the Federal Circuit, and Goutam Patnaik, a Partner at Desmarais whose practice focuses on investigations at the International Trade Commission and litigation in key patent venues. Bostwick clerked for Judge Dyk, while Patnaik is a past president of the International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association. Here is the full text of today’s announcement with a link to more information.

This morning the Federal Circuit announced that it received a lunar sample from NASA collected by Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr, the first American in space in 1961. The announcement states that “this fragment, along with other space memorabilia, are on loan to the Federal Circuit from NASA and will soon be on display in the National Courts Building as part of its new Center for Innovation & Law opening in early 2025.” The Center for Innovation & Law is a major initiative of Chief Judge Moore. It will display the moon rock to highlight how portions of the National Courts Building complex served as the original headquarters of NASA. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit announced the court has updated its calendar of sessions for October 2024 through September 2025. Notably, the court will hear arguments six days in each of the sessions held in December through May. The court also released its calendar of sessions for October 2025 through September 2026, and none of these months include more than five days for oral arguments. Here is the text of today’s announcement with a link to the calendars.

Friday the Federal Circuit announced that it released new materials related to its investigation of Judge Newman. The materials include an order unanimously adopting a report and recommendation of the Special Committee of the Federal Circuit Judicial Council. Most notably, the order states that “Judge Newman shall not be permitted to hear or participate in any cases, at the panel or en banc level, for a period of one year beginning with the issuance of this Order, subject to consideration of renewal if Judge Newman’s refusal to cooperate continues after that time and to consideration of modification or rescission if justified by an end of the refusal to cooperate.” Here is the full text of Friday’s announcement with links to the released material.

Today the Federal Circuit issued a Notice of Proposed Amendments to the Federal Circuit Rules of Practice. The notice proposes to amend various Federal Circuit Rules of Practice, various Practice Notes, and certain aspects of the Federal Circuit Attorney Discipline Rules. Notably, the court proposes adding a practice note highlighting how it “prefers that reply briefs respond to the response brief rather than repeating what is in the principal brief” and “favors reply briefs that do not use the full word length when not necessary.” It also proposes adding a new requirement regarding the table of contents for appendices, requiring the table of contents to identify how the relevant document was designated in the reviewing tribunal (such as the docket or other record number). The court has made a redline available to study the proposed changes. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

The Federal Circuit announced that the Clerk’s Office and Circuit Library will be closed today from 1:00 to 3:45 pm. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit announced that it has released materials in its investigation related to Judge Newman. Most notably, the materials include a report and recommendation of the special committee unanimously recommending “a further one-year sanction during which Judge Newman will not be permitted to hear cases at the panel or en banc level, subject to renewal if the refusal to cooperate found here continues after that time and subject to modification or rescission if Judge Newman alters her conduct and begins to cooperate with the Committee.” Here is the full text of today’s announcement with links to the released material.

Last week the Federal Circuit announced that it has released materials in its investigation related to Judge Newman. Here is the full text of last week’s announcement, with links to two recent orders of the Judicial Council.

This afternoon the Federal Circuit announced that it has scheduled hearings for its October 2024 session in the San Francisco area. Here is the full text of today’s announcement.