Welcome to Sullivan's IP Law Outline & Analysis™ (Second Edition) – which has successfully completed its first year and a half of publication!

During the past several years, a number of important patent cases were decided by the Federal Circuit -- and the U.S. Supreme Court. To keep track of these cases and others, this website outlines and/or summarizes the issues and law from the Supreme Court cases and all of the precedential Federal Circuit cases since August 2003.

The reader will not find many pin citations in The Outline & Analysis -- for a good reason. The Outline & Analysis is intended in part as an additional resource for finding patent and other IP law-related cases from the Federal Circuit relevant to your own case. Each case should then be read in its entirety to achieve the "careful, candid, and complete legal analysis" requested by the Court (by Chief Judge Michel) in 2006, i.e., by "gleaning the law of a particular area from careful reading of the full text of a group of related precedents for all they say that is dispositive and for what they hold."

The Outline & Analysis is unique compared to other patent law-related resources in that it provides important context for the current Federal Circuit cases, that is, by revealing how the issues and law in the current precedential cases relate to the issues and law in the Court's earlier cases. Indeed, you may have noticed that the precedent on which the Federal Circuit relies in many of the current cases are cases decided during the same or previous year as the current cases, or within the previous few years. The Outline & Analysis reveals the similarities and differences between the current cases and these earlier cases. And, of course, the earlier cases cite the even earlier relevant Federal Circuit cases.

The Outline & Analysis comprises several useful features. One feature is that the issues and law are specifically organized to enable readers to find cases relevant to their own cases and issues, as well as relevant to the issues highlighted in the current posting. Another feature is that the current entries in The Outline & Analysis are highlighted in red to distinguish them from the earlier entries.

A prominent and important feature of The Outline & Analysis are the comprehensive lists of cases for each of the main issues and sub-issues. (See "Disclaimer and Copyright Notice") The reader will notice that certain lists of cases, e.g., those listing cases for the most basic patent law principles (e.g., an infringement analysis contains two parts . . .) or those listing cases concerning various procedural issues were added more recently and/or cite only representative cases for the issue.

The Outline & Analysis also contains sections specific to pharma and biotech-related issues. For example, included for easy cross-reference in the BIOTECH/PHARMA CASES section are lists of the precedential pharma and biotech cases with a summary of the patented technology in each case. Also, many of the substantive patent law sections include a "Pharma" and/or "Biotech" subsection containing law and issues specific to these subject areas.

Over time, other useful features of Sullivan's IP Law Outline & Analysis™ will be highlighted.

Finally, the Federal Reporter and U.S.P.Q.2d citations for the cases are provided in the Table of Cases (updated regularly), in which each of the Supreme Court cases and the precedential Federal Circuit cases since August 2003 are listed reverse chronologically by month and day to correspond with the case citations in The Outline & Analysis. The slip opinions for most of the cases also are available on the Federal Circuit's website (www.cafc.uscourts.gov).

I appreciate that you share my passion for recent developments in IP law at the Federal Circuit - and at the Supreme Court. Thank you and good luck!