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Full-Text Articles in Law
Patent Misjoinder, David O. Taylor
Patent Misjoinder, David O. Taylor
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act effectively repealed aspects of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by creating a new statutory section governing joinder of accused infringers and consolidation of actions for trial in most patent infringement cases. This new law codifies a substantial barrier to joinder and consolidation, contradicting two of the primary policies embraced by the drafters of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: the promotion of liberal standards both for evaluating the sufficiency of pleadings and for evaluating the propriety of joinder of parties. Remarkably, the new statutory section does so despite the absence of any detailed scholarly …
Formalism And Antiformalism In Patent Law Adjudication: Rules And Standards, David O. Taylor
Formalism And Antiformalism In Patent Law Adjudication: Rules And Standards, David O. Taylor
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit exists at least in part to achieve goals related to patent law that the Supreme Court singularly failed to achieve. Since the Federal Circuit’s inception just over thirty years ago, however, critics have shifted blame for problems with the patent system from the Supreme Court to the Federal Circuit. A common criticism that has gained strength is that the Federal Circuit engages in overly formalistic rule-based adjudication in patent cases. One aspect of this criticism is that the Federal Circuit too often creates rules to govern patent law. In this …