Posts Tagged: "Neil Gorsuch"

The resulting decisions reveal the Supreme Court’s holistic outlook as a generalist court concerned with broad legal consistency rather than fidelity to patent law’s underlying specialized and unique features moored in technology research, invention, and patenting processes. Unfortunately, as shown below, the adverse effects on patent rights due to the deviant patent doctrines arising out of the Court’s decisions far exceed the benefits of assimilation and conformity of the patent law with the general law… The dearth in understanding technologies and related invention processes and the lack of prior expertise in patent law pertains to Justices across the political spectrum. Patent law raises questions that have the potential to divide conservatives and liberals alike, as it pits principles of liberty and property against one another. For example, the pillars of the recent problematic jurisprudence on patent-eligibility were authored by liberal Justice Breyer (Mayo v. Prometheus) and by conservative Justice Thomas (Alice v CLS Bank).

Earlier this evening President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit as his selection to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away February 13, 2016. While there will be much time to evaluate Judge Gorsuch’s record and impressive Ivy League background prior to any confirmation hearing or vote in the United States Senate, I have located several intellectual property cases from the 10th Circuit with decisions authored by Gorsuch. While patent issues would not have gone to the 10th Circuit, it also seems worth pointing out that Judge Gorsuch has expressed skepticism of Chevron deference.