Experts Judging Experts: The Role of Expertise in Reviewing Agency Decision Making

What role does judicial subject matter expertise play in the review of agency decisions? Using a data set of decisions in which the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) is reviewed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, we investigate this question and find that greater subject matter expertise does make it more likely that a judge will vote to reverse an agency decision.     

Gavels in the nursery: an Appellate Court shuts out parents and physicians from care decisions

This article explores a recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision in a medical malpractice case and its ramifications regarding Wisconsin's informed consent statute. The authors compare and contrast this decision with previous Wisconsin Supreme Court cases and consider the relevance of applicable federal law. The article presents a thoughtful analysis of how the Wisconsin Court of Appeals should have approached the issue, as well as how it created potential conflicts regarding the ethical duties of healthcare providers treating children.     

Eliminating the Decision Review Board. Final rules

We are eliminating the Decision Review Board (DRB) portions of part 405 of our rules, which we currently use as the final step in our administrative review process for adjudicating initial disability claims in our Boston region. As of the effective date of this regulation, we will replace the DRB step with review by the Appeals Council. The Appeals Council will follow most of the rules in parts 404 and 416 that we use in the rest of the country to adjudicate disability claims at the Appeals Council level, with some differences needed to accommodate the rules that govern administrative law judge (ALJ) hearings in the Boston region. We will also authorize attorney advisors in the Boston region to conduct certain prehearing proceedings and make fully favorable decisions as they do in the rest of the country. We are making these changes to improve service to claimants and to increase consistency in our program rules.     

Remember to register!

The US Seventh Circuit of Appeals dismisses a plaintiff's attemptto circumvent the requirement to register a United States workbefore initiating proceedings for copyright infringement.     

Institutional Arrangements and the Dynamics of Agenda Formation in the U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals

The manner in which agenda change occurs demonstrates how institutional arrangements influence agenda priorities in the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals. A neo-institutional theoretic perspective is employed to examine the dynamics of agenda formation in these courts. The article finds that the Supreme Court's agenda choices influence the decisions of litigants, interest groups, and lawyers to appeal certain cases to the Courts of Appeals. While the Supreme Court's agenda primarily is influenced by internal factors, it is constrained by agenda changes in the appeals courts. Critically, it is shown that these federal appellate courts exist within an endogenous system with respect to agenda formation, as both courts respond to agenda changes made in the other over time.     

BioChem Pharma wins patent dispute over 3TC

In December 2000, the US Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, a branch of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), upheld BioChem Pharma's claim to hold the patent on 3TC.     

Netherlands court grants copyright protection to perfume scent

In its decision the Supreme Court of the Netherlands has upheldthe decision of the Court of Appeals of 's-Hertogenbosch togrant copyright protection to the scent of the perfume trésorbelonging to Lancôme.     

Mt. Laurel: A Note to Petaluma

Facilitated by the phenomenon of Xerox reproduction, though perhaps delayed by the United States Mails, the decision of the Supreme Court of New Jersey in Southern Burlington County NAACP, et al. V. Mt. Laurel arrived in California. As we await the decision of the United States Court of Appeals in Construction Industry Association v. Petaluma, mapy of US form a captive aubience. In the mail which brought a request for a commentary for this publication I also received a copy of a cover letter from the attorney for the Construction Industry Association, which letter directed a copy of Mt. Laurel opinion to the judges of the Federal Court of Appeals. My receipt of these diverse items was not accidental, for I participated in the oral argument in the Petaluma appeal as one of the amicus counsel in support of the city-appellant. The following are my impressions.     

How your website can be a friend or an enemy

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently affirmedthe decision of the TTAB in denying Reed's registration of itsmark ‘Lawyers.com’ as being generic.     

Fatal Errors: The Trial and Appeal Judgments in the Dujail Case

This commentary reviews the written judgments of both the FirstTrial Chamber and the Appeals Chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal(IHT) in the Dujail case. The article considers the key substantiveand procedural findings by the Trial Chamber and Appeals Chamberand evaluates the decisions’ consistency with internationalcriminal law. It concludes that the decisions made serious errorsin their application of international criminal law principlesgoverning the knowledge and intent of the defendants, and alsoin respect of findings of fact concerning the knowledge andintent of the defendants. These errors appear closely connectedto the failure of the investigative judge and prosecution topresent evidence which was essential to establish knowledgeand intent in the manner required by international criminallaw. The article concludes that many aspects of the convictionswere unsustainable as a matter of fact and law. It ends by reflectingon some of the factors which contributed to the failure of theIHT to produce a credible verdict.     

WAIVER HEARING A FRUSTRATING TASK

In the September decision in Haziel v. United States, Chief Judge Bazelon, speaking for the majority of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said:     

Australia: court reduces prison sentence of person with HIV

In August 2002, the Court of Appeals of the state of Victoria, Australia, reduced the non-parole portion of a man's prison sentence from two years to 18 months because imprisonment would be a greater burden on someone with HIV than on a healthy person.     

The Past and Future State of De Facto Parents in New York

Over the past two decades, the definition of “family” has expanded drastically. To address these changing family dynamics, many states have adopted de facto parent laws, which recognize a nonbiological or adoptive parent's right to petition for custody or visitation in strict circumstances. These laws differ drastically from state to state, leaving no common understanding of the requirements to be a de facto parent. Until recently, New York law refused to recognize de facto parents within the Domestic Relations Law, leaving New York as one of the only states without this important distinction. However, this year the Court of Appeals crafted a narrow exception to the rule and allowed for a de facto parent to petition for custody or visitation in extremely limited circumstances. This article proposes that the Court of Appeals’ decision was too restrictive and that New York should adopt a legal framework that reflects this new type of parent, while still recognizing public policy concerns.     

Court in Argentina holds that HARRODS trade marks cannot co-exist

In October 2007, the Chamber I of the Federal Civil and CommercialChamber of Appeals, Buenos Aires, dismissed the appeal of theplaintiff (Harrods Limited) and declare not undue the oppositionfiled by the defendant (Harrod's BA), thus concluding the latestepisode in the dispute-laden relationship between these companies.     

US patent infringement statute extends to the international market for copies of US software

In a patent infringement action involving the internationaldistribution of Microsoft's Windows software, the United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has interpreted USpatent statute 35 USC section 271(f) as extending infringementliability to foreign computers assembled with copies of softwarereplicated abroad from a US-made master version.     

A Reevaluation of the New York Court of Appeals: The Home, the Market, and Labor, 1885-1905

Closely examining a range of New York Court of Appeals police-power cases during the period 1885 to 1905, this article demonstrates that the New York Court had a long history of accepting and continually expanding the police power. In these police-power cases, one finds the court grappling with an evolving sense of how to balance the concept of and need for a well-regulated society against the rights of an individual in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, as well as a tenacious refusal to abandon Victorian bourgeois norms regarding the dichotomy between the home and workplace. By contextualizing and historicizing New York Court of Appeals cases, the article challenges the dominant historiographical interpretations about late-nineteenth-century law. Moving away from a paradigm that labels the court conservative or liberal, formalist or realist, it argues that the court participated in creating a regulatory state while also employing a reasoning that adopted a sharp distinction between the market and the site of the domestic.     

Wilfulness redefined: In re Seagate

In In re Seagate Tech. LLC, the US Court of Appeals for theFederal Circuit redefined wilfulness relating to patent infringement,altered how wilfulness will be litigated, and as a result, manycompanies may reconsider their defensive opinion policies.     

Claim construction and the doctrine of equivalents in Amgen v Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmeda District Court decision that Transkaryotic Therapies Inc andAventis Pharmaceuticals Inc infringed Amgen's erythropoietin(EPO) patents; this decision upheld the validity of two of Amgen'sEPO patents and the infringement by Transkaryotic of three patents,including a patent that does not expire until 2015.     

Federal employees health benefits acquisition regulation: Board of Contract Appeals. Final rule

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is adopting as final,without change, the proposed rule published April 7, 2008 to remove the designation of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA)from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Acquisition Regulation(FEHBAR).     

Compromising the Authority of International Criminal Justice: How Vojislav Seselj Runs His Trial

eelj's conduct continues to cause major problems to the InternationalCriminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The approach ofboth the Trial Chamber and the Appeals Chamber to the accused'shunger strike is a matter of serious concern. Especially theAppeals Chamber's decision leaves one with the impression thateelj is running his own trial. This note offers a critical analysisof the Trial Chamber's and Appeals Chamber's responses to theaccused's hunger strike and their damaging implications.