Reining in the Inequitable Conduct Defense

Responding to views from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere about the unintended consequences of the current inequitable conduct doctrine, a divided <i>en banc</i> Federal Circuit decision issued on May 25, 2011 adjusted the standard of the materiality element to make this defense harder to establish.

25 minute read June 29, 2011 at 12:13 PM
By
Darren Donnelly And Betsy White
Reining in the Inequitable Conduct Defense

Responding to views from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) and elsewhere about the unintended consequences of the current inequitable conduct doctrine, a divided en banc Federal Circuit decision issued on May 25, 2011 adjusted the standard of the materiality element to make this defense harder to establish.

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