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Prior to taking one of the top positions at the USPTO as Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO, Sharon Barner was in private practice in Chicago.  She has argued at least once before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

You can listen to her argument before the Federal Circuit in Automed Technologies v. Microfil, LLC, 2006-1620 (Fed. Cir. Jul. 16, 2007) here: [Listen].

You can read the court’s opinion in that case here: [Read].

Edward C. DuMont of WilmerHale is President Obama’s nominee to replace Chief Judge Michel.  I posted previously that I had not been able to find any cases where Mr. DuMont had argued before the Federal Circuit.  Well, I stumbled across one.  He argued on behalf of the intervenor in the recent oral argument for the en banc appeal  in Princo Corp. v. ITC on March 3, 2010.  The en banc opinion has not yet issued.

You can listen to Mr. DuMont’s argument before the en banc panel of the Federal Circuit here: [Listen].

You can listen to the entire oral argument here:[Listen].

The answer to the quiz in the previous post is: Judge Daniel M. Friedman.

At age 93, Judge Friedman still regularly takes part in Federal Circuit cases.  Almost his entire adult life has been in public service:

Born 1916 in New York City, NY

Education:
Columbia University, A.B., 1937

Columbia Law School, LL.B., 1940

Professional Career:
Private practice, New York City, 1940-1942
Attorney, Securities and Exchange Commission, Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC, 1942
U.S. Army, 1942-1946
Attorney, Securities and Exchange Commission, Philadelphia, PA , and Washington, DC, 1946-1951
Assistant chief, Appellate Section, Antitrust Divison, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, 1951-1959
Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, 1959-1978
Assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, 1959-1962
Second assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, 1962-1968
First deputy U.S. solicitor general, 1968-1978
Acting U.S. Solicitor General, 1977

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Reassigned October 1, 1982; Assumed senior status on November 1, 1989.

Chief judge, U.S. Court of Claims, 1978-1982.

The biographies of the other judges of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit can be found [Here] and [Here].

For some reason, the biographies of only two former judges (Judge Howard T. Markey and Judge Wilson Cowen) are included on the Federal Circuit web site.

“I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.”    

–Thomas Jefferson

I am always struck by the impressive careers in public service by many of our judges. Unfortunately, as Chief Judge Michel noted in his retirement announcement the other day, the judges of the Federal Circuit have served while apparently not receiving a pay raise in the last twenty years.

One notable example of a distinguished career in public service is the Federal Circuit judge featured on the following recording. It is an oral argument from the 1970’s before the US Supreme Court. Can you name him? [Listen] Hint: Prior to being appointed to the bench, he was the acting Solicitor General of the United States.

Many patent practitioners know of Stanford professor Mark Lemley for his voluminous body of work on patent law.  One rather infamous article was co-authored with now Federal Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore entitled “Ending Abuse of Continuation Applications” and advocated for a limit of one continuation application. [Read]

Regardless of whether you agree with Professor Lemley and Judge Moore on the fairness of such a limitation or find it somewhat divorced from the practical reality of patent prosecution before today’s USPTO, I think you will agree with me that he is an excellent oral advocate.  You can listen to his oral argument in Monsanto Co. v. McFarling  [Here].

Judge Roderick McKelvie is one of the most highly-respected district court judges to have overseen patent cases.  He served as a U.S. District Court judge for the district of Delaware from 1992-2002.  Relatively recently, he returned to private practice with Covington and Burling, LLP in Washington, D.C. 

You can listen to Judge McKelvie argue before the Federal Circuit on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh here [Listen] in the recent case of  Univ. of Pittsburgh v. Varian Medical Systems, Inc.