Mammoth Paper on Patent Case Management To Be Published by the Federal Judicial Center

Professor Peter Menell from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and a host of patent litigators, judges and academics are preparing to publish a paper titled "Patent Case Management Judicial Guide" that strives to provide a "best practices" overview for judges and practitioners alike. From the Abstract:

Because of the decentralized, general jurisdiction structure of federal courts in the United States, much of the experience relating to managing patent cases is silo-ed in particular judicial chambers. As one jurist aptly noted, best practices for patent case management have been transmitted largely through word of mouth. Given the crowded, diverse dockets of federal courts, the accessibility and reliability of such knowledge is far from ideal. Judges in some districts have partially codified recommended practices in the form of Patent Local Rules, standing orders, and patent jury instructions, but these documents do not address the full range of distinctive challenges posed by patent litigation. Furthermore, such judicial wisdom continues to evolve.

Recognizing these patterns, the authors undertook in 2006 to survey the range of approaches and perspectives on patent case management, foster discussion and analysis of patent case management techniques, and develop an authoritative guide for judges, law clerks, practitioners, and patent and civil procedure professors and scholars. Given the dynamism of the patent system and patent litigation, the authors plan to revise the Guide on a biennial basis.

You can download a draft copy of the paper (540+ pages) here via SSRN (link)