Events

14th Annual Niro Lecture and CIPLIT Annual Conversation with the Judiciary

The 14th Annual Niro Haller & Niro Distinguished IP Lecturer Peter Lee discussed his recent article, Patent Law and the Two Cultures, 120 Yale L.J. 2 (2010) focusing on the role of generalist judges in adjudicating technically complex patent cases, and the high information costs that such cases generate. Professor Lee commented on recent Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court cases, distinguishing between the Federal Circuit's formalistic approach and the Supreme Court's holistic approach to patent adjudication. He offered prescriptions for crafting Supreme Court patent doctrine to ameliorate resulting cognitive burdens on generalist judges as well as address the impact of the new Leahy-Smith America Invents Act on the ease and/or difficulty of patent adjudication. A distinguished panel of judges who opted to participate in the Patent Pilot Project in the Northern District of Illinois then discussed the article and address related topics of current importance immediately following Professor Lee's remarks as part of CIPLIT's annual Conversation with the Judiciary.