Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Intellectual Property Law

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Legal System

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Legitimacy And The Useful Arts, Craig Allen Nard Jan 1997

Legitimacy And The Useful Arts, Craig Allen Nard

Faculty Publications

The fundamental question this Article addresses is who should be primarily responsible for making patent validity determinations: the courts5 or the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”)?6 Which entity *517 would best serve the constitutional goal of promoting the progress of the useful arts?


Deference, Defiance, And Useful Arts, Craig Allen Nard Jan 1995

Deference, Defiance, And Useful Arts, Craig Allen Nard

Faculty Publications

My objective in this Article is to demonstrate that the PTO's patentability determinations are questions of policy and, therefore, the Federal Circuit's standards of review, as applied to these determinations, are unsound. With respect to the Commissioner's statutory interpretations, I intend to demonstrate that the court's “traditional factors of statutory construction,” which are used in such a way as to avoid deferring to the PTO, result in irrational decisions, or at the very least, an alternative theory of interpretation no more convincing than that put forth by the PTO. My principle assertion, grounded in both doctrine and policy, is that …