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Year in Review 2014: The 10 Most Popular Federal Cir. Blog Posts

By William Peacock, Esq. on December 18, 2014 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

This circuit. This glorious Federal Circuit, with its unique, specialized jurisdiction over a few niche areas of law. Typically, this circuit's run-of-the-mill patent decisions are a bit dry.

But 2014 was different. This past year brought a whole lot of Supreme Court intervention, a scandal that led to a resignation and reprimand, and a new chief judge. In other words: juicy blog material.

Here's what you found most interesting, judging by traffic numbers:

  1. Patent Invalidated in 1st Opinion to Invoke Alice v. CLS Bank -- The Supreme Court's software patent decision paid immediate dividends for Google, but may end up costing them in the long run. Except not, thanks to the Rader resignation.
  2. Meet New Federal Circuit Chief Judge Sharon Prost -- Did we say Rader resignation? (That'll be an ongoing theme.) Here's his replacement, a woman with a B.S., MBA, J.D., and L.L.M. trailing her name.
  3. Feds Try to Take Air Marshal Whistleblower's Case to SCOTUS -- The TSA and DHS appealed a decision in favor of a federal whistleblower to the Supreme Court. The case has since been argued, though the decision is still pending.
  4. What Is a Bra? Fed. Cir. Decides in Victoria's Secret Tariff Case -- Yes, this was actually a case -- with a dissent -- about whether a bra-shirt-hybrid is a bra for tax purposes.
  5. Nautilus v. Biosig Instruments: SCOTUS Oral Arguments Almost Here -- Prepare yourself for something titillating: "the legal standard for invalidity of indefiniteness."
  6. SCOTUS Shifts Burden of Proof Back, Reverses Fed. Circuit -- One party thinks that a second party is infringing their patents. Second party seeks a declaratory judgment that they are not infringing those patents. So who has the burden of proof -- the party initiating the legal action or the party who is alleging infringement?
  7. Basic Contract Principles of Good Faith and Fair Dealing Prevail -- There are rules to this game, son: the basic rules of contract law. And nobody, not even the federal government itself, is above the law of contracts.
  8. SCOTUS Vacates and Remands Case in Light of Octane Fitness -- Last year, I warned you: fee-shifting was coming to patent cases one way or another. The Supreme Court took care of the issue in Octane. This was the first case to face the fallout.
  9. Supreme Court Grants Cert. in Teva v. Sandoz Patent Case -- Nothing to see here. Just a $3 billion generic drug patent case.
  10. Judge Randall R. Rader Resigns as Chief of Federal Circuit -- And we're back to Ex-Chief Judge Randall R. Rader, who resigned after getting a little too friendly with a member of the Federal Circuit bar.

What was your favorite story of the year from the Federal Circuit? Tweet us @FindLawLP.

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