Patent Law

On Thursday, March 4, 2010, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm, I will be speaking at the Washington University Law School (Room 305 in Anheuser-Busch Hall) on the topic of patent reexaminations. The talk will be primarily directed toward IP-focused law students and faculty. However, the law school has offered to open its doors to folks from the community (free). Last year, several local patent attorneys attended when I spoke about design patent law and their comments really enriched the program. I look forward to meeting you there!

The title of my talk this year is 'the rising stature of patent reexaminations.' That title reflects the reality that reexamination filing has become a default strategy for accused patent infringers.  We will talk about recent statistics involving reexamination quality and timeliness as well as 'success rates' (AKA 'kill rates').  Most patents undergoing reexamination are also simultenously involved in patent infringement litigation. Those parallels actions create unique and sometimes problematic cross-links that we will discuss.  The final topic will involve potential reexamination reforms that could further improve (or ruin) the process.

Send questions about the event to MPCooper [at] wulaw.wustl.edu.