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Practice Makes Perfect? An Empirical Study Of Claim Construction Reversal Rates In Patent Cases, David L. Schwartz Nov 2008

Practice Makes Perfect? An Empirical Study Of Claim Construction Reversal Rates In Patent Cases, David L. Schwartz

Michigan Law Review

This Article examines whether U.S. district court judges improve their skills at patent claim construction with experience, including the experience of having their own cases reviewed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In theory, higher courts teach doctrine to lower courts via judicial decisions, and lower courts learn from these decisions. This Article tests the teaching-and-learning premise on the issue of claim construction in the realities of patent litigation. While others have shown that the Federal Circuit reverses a large percentage of lower court claim constructions, no one has analyzed whether judges with more claim construction appeal …


Addressing Default Trends In Patent-Based Section 337 Proceedings In The United States International Trade Commission, John C. Evans Feb 2008

Addressing Default Trends In Patent-Based Section 337 Proceedings In The United States International Trade Commission, John C. Evans

Michigan Law Review

Section 337 of the Tarif Act of 1930 empowers the United States International Trade Commission to investigate imports to ensure imports do not infringe on U.S. trademarks. The Commission permits patent, copyright, and trademark owners to notify the Commission of possibly infringing imports and to obtain exclusion orders that prevent importation of products that infringe their intellectual property. The total number of investigations increased from 1996 to 2005, yet the proportion of respondent defaults rose as well. The increase in defaults suggests there is some systemic difficulty in ensuring full participation. This Note argues that the res judicata effects of …


Royalty Rate-Setting For Webcasters: A Royal(Ty) Mess, Amy Duvall Jan 2008

Royalty Rate-Setting For Webcasters: A Royal(Ty) Mess, Amy Duvall

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Internet is a haven for free expression. Not only are content-based restrictions disfavored, but "[the internet] provides relatively unlimited, low-cost capacity for communication of all kinds." Almost half of all Americans have listened to music online, whether rebroadcasts of terrestrial radio or to find niche music that terrestrial radio simply does not play, and 13 percent tune in regularly. Webcasters provide a unique outlet for new artists; however, if royalty rates are set too high for all but the largest webcasters to stay in business, the variety of music available will be severely restricted. Musical diversity stimulates the generation …


Making Much Ado About Theory: The Chinese Trademark Law, Leah Chan Grinvald Jan 2008

Making Much Ado About Theory: The Chinese Trademark Law, Leah Chan Grinvald

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Although the United States has had an active hand in the implementation of trademark law in China over the past century, the same frustrations that marked the turn of the twentieth century are reflected in the twenty-first century. This Article posits that one of the reasons that the United States has not seen the desired level of progress in China's protection of trademarks lies in the imposition of an American theory of trademarks, which has inhibited U.S. reform efforts in China to date. This imposition is understandable, as little thought has been given to the Chinese theoretical justification for their …


Synopsis Of The Extraterritorial Protection Afforded By Section 337 As Compared To The Patent Act , Neil F. Duchez Jan 2008

Synopsis Of The Extraterritorial Protection Afforded By Section 337 As Compared To The Patent Act , Neil F. Duchez

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Unlike Section 271 of the Patent Act of 1952, "[s]ection 337 is a trade law which is not necessarily limited by the principles of domestic patent law." When examined more closely, Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 in effect provides a patentee more protection from infringing foreign activity than Section 271. Accordingly, in many situations involving foreign acts, it may be more advantageous to enforce a U.S. patent at the International Trade Commission ("Commission") as opposed to a federal district court. The analysis discussed infra more closely examines those situations and provides the history behind the intended …


Hiding Behind Nationality: The Temporary Presence Exception And Patent Infringement Avoidance, J. Jonas Anderson Jan 2008

Hiding Behind Nationality: The Temporary Presence Exception And Patent Infringement Avoidance, J. Jonas Anderson

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Article argues that the temporary presence exception was not designed to allow conveyance owners the ability to select the most optimal patent system under which to be subject. It also examines the ramifications of the temporary presence exception on international commerce and concludes that increased use of the exception may result in reduced values for patents relating to international conveyances, reduced incentives to invest in and develop technologies in international conveyances, and a decrease in the quality of various domestic patent systems worldwide. Finally, this Article proposes a solution to these problems. The temporary presence exception has received some …


The Claim Construction Effect, Lee Petherbridge Jan 2008

The Claim Construction Effect, Lee Petherbridge

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Claim construction refers to the task of construing, or interpreting, the words of patents' claims to establish the metes and bounds of a patent. Theoretically, the task of claim construction serves to operationalize the concept of "invention," which lies at the heart of the U.S. patent system.[...] Rather than focusing on the set of cases in which the Federal Circuit addresses claim construction, this study focuses on a set of cases defined by a different patent doctrine. The basic idea is to explore the impact of claim construction on other areas of patent law.[...] The hypothesis of the claim construction …


Research Tool Patents After Integra V. Merck - Have They Reached A Safe Harbor, Wolrad Prinz Jan 2008

Research Tool Patents After Integra V. Merck - Have They Reached A Safe Harbor, Wolrad Prinz

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The saga surrounding the Integra v. Merck cases has rekindled a heated debate about the proper scope of both common law exemption and the safe harbor provision, causing significant concern for owners of research tool patents. This Article will argue that the next judicial decision addressing the question of research tool patents should clarify that they are in a safe harbor because none of the two exemptions from infringement referenced above extends to the use of research tools in experiments in order to preserve the necessary incentives for their creation in the first place. Allowing access to research tools under …