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USA patent courts and appeals

Revision as of 12:51, 20 May 2010 by Ciaran (talk | contribs) (Related pages on {{SITENAME}}: * German patent courts and appeals)

This article describes which bodies handle approval, rejection, and disputes of patent validity in the USA.

The stages of litigation


  • When you sue someone for patent infringement, the validity of the patent can be called into question, and this litigation is in a District Court


  • To contest this ruling, you go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)
    • When the CAFC hears a case en banc, this means that all the judges participated, not just a subset; this is usually done for important cases where the CAFC wants to set a precedent
  • To contest the CAFC's ruling, you can apply to the Supreme Court (or sometimes "SCOTUS")
    • This is called applying for certiorari
  • If the Supreme Court grants certiorari, they will rule on it with the highest authority of the USA

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links