Patent Litigation Legislation, Software Patent Eligibility Top Slate of Patent Issues in 2014

In its roundup of top patent issues expected to take shape in 2014, Bloomberg BNA included “a controversial challenge” to the Federal Circuit’s exclusive jurisdiction. In a Sept. 2013 speech, Seventh Circuit Chief Judge Wood called for patent cases to be heard at regional circuit courts to allow for “percolation” of viewpoints. Finnegan partner Donald R. Dunner spoke with BNA to defend the court. He said, “Chief Judge Wood is talking in the abstract, she’s not talking in the reality in the Federal Circuit. Not only do you get percolation, not only do you get generalist views, you get more—predictability and uniformity—that you’d never get with all the circuits sharing jurisdiction with the Federal Circuit.”