The Bilski business method patent en banc Federal Circuit generated numerous amici briefs from competing industry and patent and trade associations. Questions raised include:
- Who wants to support the State Street Bank case?
- Who wants to kill it?
- What merits are found in the briefings?
Foley addressed these questions at the Bilski Part I roundtable seminar in Washington, D.C. on April 18, 2008.
This TACPI Web Conference Bilski was conducted shortly after the oral argument on May 8, 2008 U.S. Time, and addressed the en banc oral argument where numerous questions were addressed from the 12 members of the court, including:
- What issues interest the court most?
- Which questions were revealing as to possible ways the court will decide?
- Which judges have expressed opinions differing from past panel opinions?
Featured Foley Speakers:
- Pavan K. Agarwal, Partner and Chair of the firm’s Electronics Practice. Mr. Agarwal is a former Judicial Law Clerk at the Federal Circuit, and has been an Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University Law School.
- C. Edward Polk, Jr., Senior Counsel and member of the firm’s Intellectual Property (IP) Litigation Practice. Mr. Polk joined the firm after serving in the position of Associate Solicitor, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where he represented the USPTO in the U.S. courts.
- Matthew A. Smith, Associate and member of the firm’s Electronics Practice. Mr. Smith has counseled Japanese clients extensively on IP issues.
- Haruki Murao, Attorney at Law in Japan, admitted to Practice in the U.S. (NY), and visiting at Foley & Lardner from Okazaki, Ohashi, and Maeda firm (Tokyo). Focuses on IP matters, including negotiations and litigation
Foley Moderator:
- Harold C. Wegner, Partner and a noted scholar of trans-Atlantic patent laws. Mr. Wegner co-founded Foley’s Japan IP Practice.
This live Web conference was presented in English with spot translations into Japanese.
We plan future sessions as Bilski is first decided by the Federal Circuit with the possibility of further review by the Supreme Court.
For more information on this and future roundtable seminars and Web conferences, please contact Konomi Kaji at [email protected].