Wikipedia and the Federal Circuit

The magnetic field around an infinite Halbach array of cube magnets

The magnetic field around an infinite Halbach array of cube magnets

The Law.com website recently ran an article about the case of United States v. Bari, 09-1074-cr (2d. Cir March 22, 2010) in which the defendant in a criminal case challenged the district court judge’s decision as being in violation of Rule 605 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.  The district court judge had apparently conducted a Google search to confirm his intuition on a “matter of common knowledge” (i.e., how many rain hats were available in the marketplace).

The judges of the Federal Circuit have been known to remark on the use of the internet.  For example, some have been heard to reference Google searches, Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia.  In Intamin Ltd. v. Magnetar Technologies, Inc., 483 F.3d 1328 (2007), Judge Rader references Wikipedia as teaching the basic operation of a Halbach array.  [Listen]

You can read the Intamin decision from 2007 and learn more about Halbach arrays here: [Read].

You can read the U.S. v. Bari decision here: [Read].

Comments are closed.