The Federal Judicial Center has recently published a free eBook “Patent Case Management Judicial Guide” which is available on-line. The Patent Case Management Guide is described as a “comprehensive, user-friendly, and practical judicial guide for managing patent cases” that addresses the distinctive case management challenges of patent litigation. 

A comprehensive, user-friendly, and practical judicial guide for managing patent cases. Although similar in many respects to other forms of complex civil litigation, patent cases pose distinctive case management challenges, including complex and dynamic technological facts to a degree rarely encountered in most other areas of litigation, and unique procedures (such as claim construction hearings) that affect and interact with other aspects of the case (such as summary judgment motions and expert reports).

In addition, patent cases often entail distinctive and difficult discovery issues, extensive use of experts, and particularly complex dispositive and pretrial motion practice. The authors surveyed federal judges and describe their approaches and best practices for these and other aspects of patent case management.

FORWARD
This judicial guide on patent case management is a collaborative effort between the Federal Judicial Center and the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology of the University of California–Berkeley School of Law. This collaboration began in 1998 when the Berkeley Center and the Judicial Center conducted their first intellectual property seminar for judges. That seminar was structured to provide district judges with a background and understanding of the many areas of intellectual property law.

From that initial program has evolved an annual intellectual property seminar for judges at the Berkeley Center as well as a range of innovative intellectual property programs at the Federal Judicial Center’s national and local workshops.

Then and now, the driving force behind these judicial education efforts in intellectual property has been Professor Peter Menell, director of the Berkeley Center.

Building on the enormous success of these programs, Professor Menell approached the Judicial Center several years ago with the idea of collecting materials on patent case management that had been compiled for the intellectual property seminars.

With coauthors Lynn Pasahow, James Pooley, and Matthew Powers along with the assistance of a distinguished group of collaborators and advisors, Professor Menell prepared this comprehensive guide. I believe this guide will be a valuable aid to judges handling the complex arena of patent cases

Barbara J. Rothstein
U.S. District Judge
Director, Federal Judicial Center

Download Patent Case Management Judicial Guide

PDF format, 26MB, 650Pages.

Peter S. Menell, Lynn H. Pasahow, James Pooley & Matthew D. Powers
Federal Judicial Center, 2009

Chapter 1. General Principles
Chapter 2. Early Case Management
Chapter 3, Preliminary Injunction
Chapter 4. Discovery
Chapter 5. Claim Construction
Chapter 6. Summary Judgment
Chapter 7. Pretrial Case Management
Chapter 8. Trial
Chapter 9. Post-Trial
Chapter 10. ANDA Cases: Patent Infringement Actions Involving FDA-Approved Drugs Under the Hatch-Waxman Act
Chapter 11. Patent Law Primer

PREFACE
As the number, size, and complexity of patent cases have grown throughout the United States over the past several decades—paralleling expansion in the role of high technology enterprises in the U.S. economy—the need for a comprehensive, user-friendly, and practical judicial guide for managing patent cases has become increasingly apparent.

Although similar in many respects to other forms of complex civil litigation, patent cases pose distinctive case-management challenges. Patent cases feature complex and dynamic technological facts to a degree rarely encountered in most other areas of litigation. Furthermore, they employ unique procedures (such as claim construction hearings) that affect and interact with other aspects of the case (such as summary judgment motions and expert reports) in ways that create unusual scheduling and substantive complexity.

In addition, patent cases often entail distinctive and difficult discovery issues, extensive use of experts, and particularly complex dispositive and pretrial motion practice. ...

ABOUT THE FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER
The Federal Judicial Center is the research and education agency of the federal judicial system. It was established by Congress in 1967 (28 U.S.C. §§ 620–629), on the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

By statute, the Chief Justice of the United States chairs the Center’s Board, which also includes the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and seven judges elected by the Judicial Conference.

The organization of the Center reflects its primary statutory mandates. The Education Division plans and produces education and training programs for judges and court staff, including satellite broadcasts, video programs, publications, curriculum packages for in-court training, and Web-based programs and resources.

The Research Division examines and evaluates current and alternative federal court practices and policies. This research assists Judicial Conference committees, who request most Center research, in developing policy recommendations. The Center’s research also contributes substantially to its educational programs.

The two divisions work closely with two units of the Director’s Office—the Systems Innovations & Development Office and Communications Policy & Design Office—in using print, broadcast, and on-line media to deliver education and training and to disseminate the results of Center research.

The Federal Judicial History Office helps courts and others study and preserve federal judicial history. The International Judicial Relations Office provides information to judicial and legal officials from foreign countries and assesses how to inform federal judicial personnel of developments in international law and other court systems that may affect their work.

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