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February 14, 2007
DISTRICT COURT PATENT PILOT PROGRAM
We reported in this space last September on a bill establishing a pilot program aimed at better treatment of patent cases in district courts. That bill, H.R. 34, was introduced by Reps. Darrell Issa (R.Cal.) and Adam Schiff (D.Cal.). It was the same bill that passed the House last year as H.R. 5418 but eventually died with the 109th Congress.
Earlier this week, the bill passed the House again, by voice vote, in exactly the same form. It would allow the chief judge of a pilot district to establish a roster of judges who want to hear patent cases. A judge in a pilot district who is assigned a patent case but doesn’t want it could decline it, and it would be reassigned instead, randomly, to a member of the roster. Pilot districts would be selected according to a complex formula. The hope is that the program will create “rocket dockets” in districts with a high volume of patent cases, and improve the quality of adjudication by increasing the number of patent cases heard by judges interested in the subject, while maintaining the principle of random assignment.
The bill as passed in the House is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. There is little opposition to the proposal and most observers expect it will pass in the Senate too and be enacted.
Will the bill really make it through this time? Stay tuned to the IP Blawg for updates.
Today's Blogger: Nan Joesten
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I hope that the self selection process will result in improved treatment of patent cases. My concern is that some judges who are less "patent competent" but are oblivious to their lack of aptitude will volunteer to take on (and screw up) more patent cases.
Posted by: Steve C | Mar 22, 2007 11:24:19 AM