James McArdle
Mar 1, 2013

PWC Patent Study: Courts, not Congress, Shape the Law

Stephen Jenei over at Patent Baristas posted an interesting analysis of the 2012 PwC paper proposing that courts, not Congress, shape the law.

Excerpted below:

"With the passage of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) last year, which converted the patent system from a ‘first to invent’ to a ‘first inventor to file’ system. The AIA, signed into law in September 2011, indeed brought significant changes in certain areas. But it did not address the calculation of damages in patent infringement matters, as had been suggested in prior drafts of the bill.

The absence of reform guidance in this regard leaves patent damages issues squarely for the courts. Additionally, the elimination of the 25 percent rule of thumb and rulings in other court decisions demonstrated that the courts, not Congress, would continue to shape the future of patent law and play the primary role in how patent damages are determined."

Read the full article here.