Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 17

• Increasing Complexity: The House Judiciary Subcommittee on IP is holding its PTO oversight hearing on Feb 27 at 1:30 pm. These graphs, originally from Patently-O, will be used by POPA when demanding enhanced examiner pay.
• Judicial Conference: The CAFC's Judicial Conference is scheduled for May 15, 2008 in DC at the Grand Hyatt. INFO.
• Seagate: The Supreme Court has declined to grant certiorari in the Seagate decision. That decision has eliminated much of the need for a formal opinion of counsel prepared for litigation.  Expect a study next summer showing treble damages in severe decline.
• Supreme Court Quanta: Quanta is awaiting decision. This decision may follow antitrust regulation and inject more economic analysis into decisions of whether particular license agreements are acceptable.
• Supreme Court Biomedical v. California: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed an amicus brief supporting Biomedical Devices in its attempt to strip California of its immunity from patent infringement litigation.  For an unknown reason, the IP Bar associations have refused to provide any input on this case.
• EPC 2000: The European Patent Convention has received its first major revision in 30 years. Nicholas Fox provides an excellent summary in book form for £25. Hat tip to Bill Heinze.