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Full-Text Articles in Law
Strategic Disclosure In The Patent System, Douglas Lichtman, Scott Baker, Kate Kraus
Strategic Disclosure In The Patent System, Douglas Lichtman, Scott Baker, Kate Kraus
Scholarship@WashULaw
Patent applications are evaluated in light of the prior art. What this means is that patent examiners evaluate a claimed invention by comparing it with what in a rough sense corresponds to the set of ideas and inventions already known to the public. This is done for three reasons. First, the comparison helps to ensure that patents issue only in cases where an inventor has made a non-trivial contribution to the public's store of knowledge. Second, it protects a possible reliance interest on the part of the public since, once an invention is widely known, members of the public might …
A Theory Of Claim Interpretation, Craig Allen Nard
A Theory Of Claim Interpretation, Craig Allen Nard
Faculty Publications
This article explores the proper scope of judicial power in patent law by focusing on the Federal Circuit's theories of claim interpretation. A study of the court's claim interpretation jurisprudence reveals two schools of interpretation. I characterize these approaches as (1) hypertextualism, which is the predominant interpretative theory; and (2) pragmatic textualism, which is gradually asserting itself. The hypertextualist judge has an expansive view of judicial power, characterizing claim interpretation as a question of law subject to de novo review. This highly formalistic approach stresses textual fidelity and internal textual coherence, but eschews extrinsic evidence as an interpretive tool, portraying …