U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The Federal Circuit, which has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over patents, has made patent law more favorable to patentholders, leading to a surge in litigation, Vox's Timothy B. Lee reports. The U.S. Supreme Court has been scrutinizing the intermediate appellate court more frequently, reviewing a record six rulings last term, Lee further reports: "In a new essay, University of California, Hastings law professor Robin Feldman writes about the Supreme Court's increasingly blunt efforts to force the Federal Circuit to respect the high court's own precedents, which generally place stricter limits on patent rights ... In all of [six] cases [from last term], Feldman told me, "the Supreme Court soundly and unanimously rejected the Federal Circuit's logic." For example, the Supreme Court struck down a software patent in CLS Bank v. Alice.

Gigaom reports on the adverse affects the Federal Circuit is having on patent law: "There are many explanations for the sorry state of the U.S. patent system, but one that comes up on a regular basis is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The pro-patent proclivity of the court, which hears every patent appeal in the land, has given it a 'rogue' reputation and forced the Supreme Court to reverse its decisions again and again. This week, the Supremes did so once more."

The issue, SCOTUSblog reports, is who "bears the burden of persuasion when a user of technology files suit against a patent-holder, seeking a declaratory judgment that its actions do not infringe a particular patent." Under the Supreme Court's ruling, the burden of proof rests with the patent-holder, not with the alleged infringer seeking the declaratory judgment.

The ruling should help tech firms and inventors keep one step ahead of patent trolls wielding their intellectual-property troves as revenue-generating swords through patent-infringement lawsuits.