January 2011

Looking Ahead

On January 10, 2011, in St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Canon Inc., Nos. 09-1052,
10-1137, -1140 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 10, 2011), the Federal Circuit reversed an infringement ruling after disagreeing with the district court’s claim construction.  In so doing, the majority relied on the patent reexamination history and touched on areas of interest related to reexamination.  The Court, for example, stated that it “can take judicial notice of the reexamination record,” slip op. at 11 n.1, and noted that “[b]ecause an examiner in reexamination can be considered one of ordinary skill in the art, his construction of the asserted claims carries significant weight,” id. at 13.  Read the full summary in next month’s edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit.