FedCircuitBlog

Today the Federal Circuit a precedential opinion in a patent case appealed from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and two nonprecedential opinions in two pro se cases. The court also released seven nonprecedential orders, two of which simply dismissed appeals. Here are the introductions to the opinions and the orders other than the dismissals.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article arguing “[a] review of the Federal Circuit’s motion panel assignment procedures makes clear that a party can time its filing to take advantage of the makeup of a current motion panel or wait for a future panel [that] has more judges considered favorable on the issue of venue mandamus”;
• an earlier article by the same authors arguing that “what is often portrayed as a rogue district court at odds with a supervising appellate court is in fact two things quite different–yet familiar to patent practitioners”; and
• a third article addressing the Federal Circuit’s denial of a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to grant Director Review of decisions not to institute inter partes review and post grant review.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a precedential order denying a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the United States Patent and Trademark Office to “accept and consider” requests for USPTO Director rehearing of decisions denying institution of inter partes review and post grant review. Notably, Judge Reyna wrote a concurring opinion. The Federal Circuit also released a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal for failure to prosecute. Here is text from the orders.

This morning, the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case and a Rule 36 judgment in a patent case. Here is the introduction to the opinion and a link to the Rule 36 judgment.