By Donald Zuhn --
In response to the adoption of Federal Rule of Appellate
Procedure 32.1, the Federal Circuit has adopted new Federal Circuit Rule
32.1. Under the new Rule, parties will
no longer be prohibited or restricted from citing nonprecedential dispositions
issued by the Federal Circuit after January 1, 2007. The new Rule supersedes Federal Circuit Rule
47.6, which prohibited the citation of nonprecedential dispositions. Under new Rule 32.1, the Federal Circuit may
look to nonprecedential dispositions for guidance or persuasive reasoning, but
will not give nonprecedential dispositions the effect of binding
precedent. In addition, the Federal
Circuit will not consider nonprecedential dispositions of another court as
binding precedent of that court unless the rules of that court so provide. In view of new Federal Circuit Rule 32.1,
beginning January 1st, Patent Docs will provide summaries of
precedential and nonprecedential dispositions of the Federal Circuit that
involve interesting issues of biotech or pharma patent law.
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