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University of Missouri School of Law

Journal

2011

Patent law

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

To Construe Or Not To Construe: At The Interface Between Claim Construction And Infringement In Patent Cases, Jason R. Mudd Jun 2011

To Construe Or Not To Construe: At The Interface Between Claim Construction And Infringement In Patent Cases, Jason R. Mudd

Missouri Law Review

This Article examines the blurring of this interface in both the "procedural" and "substantive" contexts. Part I discusses the background and modem legal framework for classifying claim construction as a pure question of law that is answered prior to and separate from the issue of infringement. Part II analyzes the claim construction-infringement boundary in a procedural context by examining the stages of a case at which these inquiries are typically performed and the degree to which courts construe claims "in a vacuum," without reference to the accused product. This Part explains that courts are becoming increasingly accepting of and often …


Secret Prior Art: Does Prior Art In A Provisional Patent Application Bar Future Patents, Kyle Gottuso Jun 2011

Secret Prior Art: Does Prior Art In A Provisional Patent Application Bar Future Patents, Kyle Gottuso

Missouri Law Review

This Note will examine whether prior art found in a provisional patent application can (and should) act as prior art to defeat a subsequent application by a second inventor. In looking at this issue, this Note will ask if Giacomini can be reconciled with the principles and policies that underlie patent law. To do so, this Note will first review the facts and holding of Giacomini. Then this Note will survey the patent statutes, giving particular attention to those statutes that deal with priority and prior art. Next, this Note will examine the reasoning of the Giacomini court. Finally, this …


Forward: Symposium On Evolving The Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit And Its Patent Law Jurisprudence, Dennis D. Crouch Jun 2011

Forward: Symposium On Evolving The Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit And Its Patent Law Jurisprudence, Dennis D. Crouch

Missouri Law Review

As I discuss below, conditions on the ground have changed in the few short months following the Symposium. Congress has now acted, and the Patent Office will soon have additional authority. These changes play directly into the arguments of our Symposium authors and make their results even more important.


Promoting The Progress: Three Decades Of Patent Jurisprudence In The Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit, Damon C. Andrews Jun 2011

Promoting The Progress: Three Decades Of Patent Jurisprudence In The Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit, Damon C. Andrews

Missouri Law Review

In the nearly thirty years since the Federal Circuit's first published decision, the court has decided numerous cases that have produced a rich patent jurisprudence. This Article seeks to evaluate that jurisprudence from several perspectives. Part II summarizes the Federal Circuit's patent history in terms of the court's judges, the external factors that have shaped its patent jurisprudence, and the overall success of the court in light of Congress's intent. Part III then evaluates the Federal Circuit's general stance on whether to uphold the PTO's grant or denial of a patent, or a district court's decision to invalidate a patent, …


Patent Law's Unpredictability Doctrine And The Software Arts, Greg R. Vetter Jun 2011

Patent Law's Unpredictability Doctrine And The Software Arts, Greg R. Vetter

Missouri Law Review

Part II reviews these insights from the Norden model generally. Part III brings these insights to the disclosure doctrines for software patents, with particular emphasis on the unpredictability factor for undue experimentation within enablement. The model corresponds well with enablement and best mode but does not correspond as well with other disclosure-prompting doctrines whose role is related to defining the claim. Thus, the review in Part III of written description, definiteness, and means-plus-function (§ 112 T 6) claim limitations helps establish the contours of applicability for the Norden model. The discussion of Part III also reviews the current state of …


Unpredictability In Patent Law And Its Effect On Pharmaceutical Innovation, Christopher M. Holman Jun 2011

Unpredictability In Patent Law And Its Effect On Pharmaceutical Innovation, Christopher M. Holman

Missouri Law Review

Part II of this Article summarizes the current R&D crisis confronting the pharmaceutical industry and the accompanying drop-off in innovative output from this important technological sector. Part III explains Mr. Armitage's "view from industry," which attributes a significant causative effect to unpredictability in the patent system. Part IV provides two Lilly case studies involving generic challenges to two of the company's important drugs, Gemzar and Strattera, in which the company has suffered as a result of this unpredictability. Part V identifies three distinct forms of unpredictability in patent law: unpredictability caused by the proliferation of loosely defined standards rather than …