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Welcome to Federal Circuitry

Federal Circuitry is a data-driven Federal Circuit blog. Our Federal Circuit Statistics empirically analyze quantifiable aspects of the Court. Our En Banc Tracker highlights pending and past petitions. Our Substantive Order Tracker allows you to search less-discussed orders. Check back weekly for Last Week in the Federal Circuit and monthly for our Oral Argument Recap. Follow us on Twitter @Fed_Circuitry.

January 11, 2021 - Federal Circuit Insights
Assignor Estoppel for the Win? A Quick Look at the Supreme Court’s Grant in Minerva and Denial of the Accompanying Cross-petition
By: Seth W. Lloyd and Brian R. Matsui
As many readers know, the Supreme Court just granted a petition for certiorari in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc. The case asks the Supreme Court to abolish the doctrine of assignor estoppel. But the Supreme Court also passed on a cross-petition in the
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January 11, 2021 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week in the Federal Circuit (January 4-8): Mooting your opponent’s appeal
By: Brian R. Matsui and Seth W. Lloyd
Now that the new year has started, we’re seeing an uptick in precedential opinions. This week we decided to turn back to patent appeals, taking a look at IPRs and Article III—always a fun topic. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and our
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January 05, 2021 - Federal Circuit Insights
Starting 2021 With a Tip
By: Brian R. Matsui and Seth W. Lloyd
We decided to start the new year off with a little practice pointer. We noticed that the Court rejected a brief today (not ours) for failing to comply with several rules. One basis for the rejection is a rule that often is overlooked—the location
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December 21, 2020 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week in the Federal Circuit (December 14-18): And/or confusion
By: Brian R. Matsui
Last week, we got what may be the last big batch of Federal Circuit opinions of 2020. (In 2019, only six more opinions issued between this time and the end of the year.) Although most of last week’s decisions were issued pretty speedily after
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December 15, 2020 - Federal Circuit Insights
We Updated Our Stats and Looked at the Timing of Appeals
By: Brian R. Matsui
We updated our stats , so we now have over a year of data since we started collecting data from every Federal Circuit decision. As such, we thought we might take a look at some of the timing data on Federal Circuit appeals. As
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December 14, 2020 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week in the Federal Circuit (December 7-11): Standing and Invalidating the Court’s Own Local Rule
By: Brian R. Matsui and Seth W. Lloyd
This week we talk about the most important standing decision decided by any court last week. Ok, perhaps, it was the second most important standing decision. Last week’s case addresses who may sue, and when they must sue by. It was decided by an
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December 11, 2020 - Federal Circuit Insights
No Argument, No Opinion—a Quick Look at Unargued Rule 36 Decisions During the Pandemic
By: Brian R. Matsui
Last week, Seth Lloyd and I noticed that there had been two more Rule 36s in appeals without oral argument from the Federal Circuit’s November sitting ( here ). And then yesterday, Bloomberg’s Perry Cooper tweeted that two more Rule 36s were handed down from
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December 07, 2020 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week in the Federal Circuit (November 30-December 4): Appellate Jurisdiction Over Agency Orders
Apparently it’s a myth that Thanksgiving turkey makes you sleepy. We beg to differ, judging from how much time it took us to shake off the food coma. The Federal Circuit seemingly was in the same boat: It had a slow post-Thanksgiving week, issuing
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December 04, 2020 - Oral Argument Recap
November Oral Argument Recap
By: Seth W. Lloyd and Brian R. Matsui
Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we’ve all hopefully had a chance to ponder what we’re thankful for (including that a wild 2020 is about to close). Next week marks the start of the Federal Circuit’s last oral argument session of 2020. Lucky for
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November 24, 2020 - Federal Circuit Insights
Orders of Interest Roundup, Arthrex Style
By: Seth W. Lloyd
At Federal Circuitry blog, we like to check in once in a while on what the Federal Circuit is doing in its orders that don’t get posted on the public website. Those orders often offer nuggets about practice at the Federal Circuit and sometimes
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