每日IP英文第404期：
根据本文的统计，美国联邦巡回上诉法院CAFC的判决有以下特点：
- CAFC在2020年大约作出700件左右判决，包括书面意见和Rule36摘要确认(Rule 36 summary affirmances），其中大约400件是对来自USPTO和美国地区法院DCT的上诉；
- 2020年，Rule36摘要确认的数量有所减少，而书面意见则有所增加，这种变化在对USPTO做出的决定中尤为明显，；
- 书面意见的增加主要以非先例意见的形式出现，联邦巡回法官发表更多非先例性意见，而不是发布Rule36摘要确认，这可以为当事方提供更多法院确认的信息；
- CAFC维持了约70％的地区法院的决定，如果考虑部分维持，那么比例达到80％；CAFC维持了约80％的USPTO的决定，如果考虑部分维持，那么比例达到90％。
Federal Circuit Statistics – 2020 edition
January 4, 2021/ Patently-O- Jason RantanenThis post uses data from the Compendium of Federal Circuit Decisions to provide a quick statistical overview of the Federal Circuit’s decisions this year, particularly in appeals arising from the district courts and USPTO.Figure 1 shows the total number of Federal Circuit opinions and Rule 36 summary affirmances by origin. The increase in decisions in appeals from the USPTO (orange) over the past decade is clearly visible, although last year there was a slight decline. Decisions in appeals arising from the USPTO dropped about 17% (254 in 2019 versus 2010 in 2020), while decisions in appeals arising from the district courts increased slightly (182 in 2019 versus 199 in 2020). Overall, the Federal Circuit’s docket is a lot more patent-heavy today than it was in 2010. The court is issuing more decisions as well.Decline in Rule 36 Summary AffirmancesFigures 2 and 3 show the number of written opinions and Rule 36 summary affirmances in appeals arising from the district courts and USPTO. Both figures show a decrease in the number of Rule 36 summary affirmances and increase in written opinions in 2020. This change is especially dramatic in decisions arising from the USPTO.In addition, as figures 4 and 5 show, the increase in written opinions has primarily come in the form of more nonprecedential opinions. The number of nonprecedential written opinions in appeals from both the district courts and USPTO have increased while the number of precedential decisions has remained about the same or declined.Despite the decrease in Rule 36 summary affirmances, the court’s overall affirmance rate measured by decision (i.: the outcome of a given opinion or Rule 36 affirmance) remained about the same in 2020. As Figure 6 shows, over the last ten years the Federal Circuit fully affirmed about 70% of its decisions arising from the district courts and affirmed at least in part about 80% of the time. Similarly, as Figure 7 shows, the court has full affirmed the USPTO around 80% of the time and affirmed at least in part about 90%. This data is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the Federal Circuit is issuing fewer Rule 36 summary affirmances because it is reversing less often.My takeaway is that the Federal Circuit judges are writing more nonprecedential opinions instead of issuing Rule 36 summary affirmances. Hopefully this will provide some additional information for parties on the court’s reasoning when it affirms.As always, the data for this post (and much more data) is available via the Compendium of Federal Circuit Decisions website. In calculating the affirmance rate I did not include decisions coded as “dismissed” or “other.” Thanks to my research assistants for their work coding Federal Circuit decisions, particularly Lindsay Kriz who did the lions share of the coding for 2020 decisions.Source: https://patentlyo.com/patent/2021/01/federal-circuit-statistics.htmlEach article is copyrighted to their original authors. The news is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice.大岭IP知识产权律师团队
郝政宇律师为北京观韬中茂律师事务所高级顾问、律师、专利代理师，大岭IP知识产权律师团队创立人，原国家知识产权局专利审查员，具有丰富的知识产权诉讼经验，担任多家知名企业知识产权顾问。执业领域：知识产权诉讼、专利无效/复审、专利申请代理、专利检索分析、知识产权顾问、科创板上市知识产权辅导、知识产权交易等。
