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Exactly Backwards: Exceptionalism and the Federal Circuit


R. Polk Wagner


University of Pennsylvania Law School


U of Penn. Law School, Public Law Working Paper 55; U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper 04-18

Abstract:     
This short essay critically evaluates the current proposals, most closely associated with Dan Burk and Mark Lemley, that the patent law should increasingly become technology-specific - that is, that the law should reflect different rules for different technological areas or industries. I make three points. The first is to point out that descriptive claims of a fundamental technological-exceptionalism (what I call "macro-exceptionalism") in the patent law are not well supported, once one sets aside the small factual variability ("micro-exceptionalism") built into the legal standards. Second, using empirical data from the development of claim construction jurisprudence and the patterns of en banc proceedings at the Federal Circuit, I argue that the major trends in the patent law run directly counter to macro-exceptionalist claims. Finally, in considering the public policy issues raised by the calls for a judicially created technological-exceptionalism, I conclude that the most successful approach is, indeed, exactly backwards of that suggested by the proponents of technological-specificity in the patent law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 10

Keywords: patents, technological specificity, exceptionalism

JEL Classification: K00, K11

Accepted Paper Series


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Date posted: August 30, 2004  

Suggested Citation

Wagner, R. Polk, Exactly Backwards: Exceptionalism and the Federal Circuit. Case Western Reserve Law Review, Vol. 54, p. 749, 2004. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=583324

Contact Information

R. Polk Wagner (Contact Author)
University of Pennsylvania Law School ( email )
3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States
267-433-4431 (Phone)
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