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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.

October 05, 2022 - Federal Circuit Insights
Sawing Through Patent Term—the Federal Circuit’s Recent Decision In Sawstop
By: Mehran Arjomand and Meghan McLean Poon Ph.D.
Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is additional patent term for U.S. patents to compensate for delay in issuance. The statute (35 U.S.C. § 154(b)) provides three bases for PTA: delayed response by the USPTO (“A delay”), failure to issue a patent within three years (“B delay”),
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September 15, 2022 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week In The Federal Circuit (September 6 – September 9): Repeating Litigation, Again
By: Seth W. Lloyd
Usually in American courts, parties get one chance to litigate a single legal claim. Courts enforce that principle in a variety of ways – at the back end, through rules like claim and issue preclusion; and at the front end, through rules like the duplicative-litigation
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September 13, 2022 - Federal Circuit Insights
How Often Do Federal Circuit Judges Sit 2022?
By: Seth W. Lloyd
Early last year we took a look at how often Federal Circuit judges sit (see blog post ). A lot has happened since then, including two new judges joining the court. Below is an updated chart showing data through the August 2022 sitting: As a reminder,
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September 08, 2022 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 29 – September 2): Capability Claims in the Modern Era
Have you ever wondered what it means when your smartphone or tablet connects to an “LTE” network? Our case of the week dives into that technology—and offers an interesting discussion of functional claim limitations and standard-essential patents. Case of the week: INVT SPE LLC v.
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September 06, 2022 - Federal Circuit Insights
Is It Ever Too Late To Be Rule 36’d?
By: Brian R. Matsui
Those that regularly practice before the Court know about Rule 36s. We’ve written about them before. It’s a one-line per curiam decision that generally comes a few days after oral argument: AFFIRMED. See Fed. Cir. R. 36. This post isn’t going to say anything about the
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August 30, 2022 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 22 – August 26): To Appeal Or Not To Appeal, That Is The Question
By: Seth W. Lloyd
If you don’t appeal an issue from an adverse judgment, are you going to be bound by the decision on that issue in future cases? This can often be an important question to consider when deciding whether and what issues to appeal. But sometimes, the chance
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August 22, 2022 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 15 – August 19): The Court Rebuffs Patent Owner’s Attempt To Read ANDA Application In Isolation
By: Brian R. Matsui
We’re now in the waning days of summer, and the Court’s activity last week somewhat reflected that: two decisions and a few orders. One of those orders was for something you don’t see often: an appeal being dismissed for an appellant missing the deadline to file its
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August 18, 2022 - Federal Circuit Insights
Jurisdictional Ping-Pong Averted
We’ve previously written about Chandler v. Phoenix Services, L.L.C. , an interesting case on the Federal Circuit’s exclusive appellate jurisdiction in patent cases. Earlier this week, the Fifth Circuit issued a decision marking the latest entry in that saga. A quick recap of the relevant
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August 16, 2022 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 8 – August 12): Taking A Round Trip On The Assignor Estoppel Express
By: Brian R. Matsui
For most of us, we’re stuck in the August heat, on delayed European vacations, or hopefully just hanging out at the beach. But for the Court it still was work as usual, including a return trip to the Federal Circuit for the defendant in Minerva.
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August 10, 2022 - Last Week in the Federal Circuit
Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 1-5): An (Artificially) Intelligent Decision On Inventorship
From facial-recognition technology to voice assistants and self-driving cars, artificial intelligence these days is pretty remarkable. But according to our latest case of the week, there’s at least one thing AI can’t do: be listed as an inventor on a patent application. Case of the week:
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Welcome to Federal Circuitry

Sawing Through Patent Term—the Federal Circuit’s Recent Decision In Sawstop

By: Mehran Arjomand and Meghan McLean Poon Ph.D.

Last Week In The Federal Circuit (September 6 – September 9): Repeating Litigation, Again

By: Seth W. Lloyd

How Often Do Federal Circuit Judges Sit 2022?

By: Seth W. Lloyd

Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 29 – September 2): Capability Claims in the Modern Era

Is It Ever Too Late To Be Rule 36’d?

By: Brian R. Matsui

Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 22 – August 26): To Appeal Or Not To Appeal, That Is The Question

By: Seth W. Lloyd

Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 15 – August 19): The Court Rebuffs Patent Owner’s Attempt To Read ANDA Application In Isolation

By: Brian R. Matsui

Jurisdictional Ping-Pong Averted

Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 8 – August 12): Taking A Round Trip On The Assignor Estoppel Express

By: Brian R. Matsui

Last Week In The Federal Circuit (August 1-5): An (Artificially) Intelligent Decision On Inventorship