Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. V. Smith: Willful Infringement-Reliance On A Flawed Letter From Counsel, Brian David Bellamy
Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. V. Smith: Willful Infringement-Reliance On A Flawed Letter From Counsel, Brian David Bellamy
Mercer Law Review
In Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. v. Smith, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held that an infringer's reliance on patent counsel's letter is justified if the "opinion [is] thorough enough, as combined with other factors, to instill a belief in the infringer that a court might reasonably hold the patent is invalid, not infringed, or unenforceable."' In crafting this decision, the court focused on the intent and the reasonable beliefs of the infringer. By relying on a letter from patent counsel, Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation ("Ortho") had a reasonable basis for believing that it had not infringed the patent of American …
Expanding The Use Of Hypothetical Analysis When Evaluating Patent Infringement Under The Doctrine Of Equivalents, Brian E. Lewis
Expanding The Use Of Hypothetical Analysis When Evaluating Patent Infringement Under The Doctrine Of Equivalents, Brian E. Lewis
Seattle University Law Review
Accordingly, the purpose of this Comment is twofold: first, to bring the reader up-to-date on the doctrine of equivalents, and second, to suggest an improvement on the doctrine's application that is consistent with recent developments. This Comment proposes that the hypothetical technique should be expanded to evaluate more than prior art alone. Before exploring how this new use of the hypothetical would work, however, it is necessary to explain the doctrine of equivalents' history, the factors that affect the range of equivalents, and the methods to determine and apply equivalents.