Federal Circuit Advisory Council Releases Model Order Limiting Excess Patent Claims and Prior Art

The Federal Circuit Advisory Council has unanimously approved a “Model Order Limiting Excess Patent Claims and Prior Art.” The Model Order provides guidance for “[f]ocusing patent cases to the issues at the core of the dispute” and addresses questions such as:

• What should be limited—number of claims, number of prior art references, number of invalidity theories, number of terms for claim construction, number of accused products, or some combination?
• When should the limits on asserted claims and prior art references take effect?
• Should the limits on number of claims apply per case or per patent?
• What effect does the judgment have on non-elected patent claims and prior art references?

The committee that created the Model Order was chaired by Ed Reines (Weil) and includes Chief Judge Randall Rader (Fed. Cir.), Chief Judge Leonard Davis (E.D. Tex.), Judge Lucy Koh (N.D. Cal.), Judge Katherine Forrest (S.D.N.Y.), Judge Theodore Essex (ITC)), Tina Chappell (Intel), Morgan Chu (Irell), Sean Cunningham (DLA Piper), Isabella Fu (Microsoft), Mike McKool (McKool Smith), and John Whealan (GW Law).

To read this order on Docket Navigator click here.