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Constitutional Flaw Could Impact Patent Rulings
The New York Times ran an interesting story on Tuesday about a George Washington University law professor who has discovered a constitutional flaw in the appointment process over the last eight years for judges who decide patent appeals and disputes. John Duffy's short paper documenting the problem seems poised to undo thousands of patent decisions concerning claims worth billions of dollars.
Since 2000, patent judges have been appointed by a government official without the constitutional power to do so, the paper reports. "I actually ran it by a number of colleagues who teach administrative law and constitutional law," Duffy said, recalling his own astonishment at finding such a chink in the legal armor.
Although a spokesman for the Justice Department would not offer a comment, the agency has already all but conceded that Duffy is right, the article states. Given the opportunity to dispute him in a December appeals court filing, government lawyers said only that they were at work on a legislative solution. Read the full story here.
Posted by Andrew on May 6, 2008 07:28 PM | Permalink
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