Insights
Client Alert
Federal Circuit Decision Impacts the Use of Experts in Patent Cases
March 10, 2009
Robert M. Masters and Brock S. Weber
This Client Alert provides an update to our previous Alert entitled, Intellectual Property Outlook for 2009: Cases and Trends to Follow. Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. v. O2 Micro Intl, regarding the use of court-appointed experts in patent infringement cases. As noted in our previous Alert, this decision has the potential to set a new trend in patent infringement cases and can have broad implications on the ability of counsel to control their cases and how cases are tried to a judge or jury. A weak case is more likely to be exposed if the court appoints an independent expert who has an in-depth understanding of the technology at issue.