Posts Tagged: "experts"

When obviousness of a patent claim is at issue, some experts may opine along these lines: “Therefore, the subject matter of claim 1 would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art.” Whether such is common practice or not, testimony of this sort ought not to be allowed. Such testimony should be objected to and stricken as irrelevant. In cases involving a jury, a motion in limine ought to be used to prevent such testimony from coming before a jury. Experts are fact witnesses that are, like all fact and other witnesses, allowed to testify to what they saw, what they heard, and what they did. Unlike other witnesses, however, expert witnesses are further allowed to express opinions within the fields of their expertise. Experts’ expertise comes from having specialized knowledge, education, training, or experience.