Brief of Amici Curiae 56 Professors of Law and Economics in Support of Petition of Writ of Certiorari

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant forum shopping, particularly by patent trolls. 44% of 2015 patent lawsuits were filed in a single district: the Eastern District of Texas, a forum with plaintiff-friendly rules and practices, and where few of the defendants are incorporated or have established places of business. And an estimated 86% of 2015 patent cases were filed somewhere other than the jurisdictions specified in the statute. Colleen V. Chien & Michael Risch, Recalibrating Patent Venue, Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-1 (Sept. 1, 2016), Table 3. This Court should grant certiorari to review the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) because the Federal Circuit’s dubious interpretation of the statute plays an outsized and detrimental role, both legally and economically, in the patent system

Brief of Amici Curiae 56 Professors of Law and Economics in Support of Petition of Writ of Certiorari

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant forum shopping, particularly by patent trolls. 44% of 2015 patent lawsuits were filed in a single district: the Eastern District of Texas, a forum with plaintiff-friendly rules and practices, and where few of the defendants are incorporated or have established places of business. And an estimated 86% of 2015 patent cases were filed somewhere other than the jurisdictions specified in the statute. Colleen V. Chien & Michael Risch, Recalibrating Patent Venue, Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-1 (Sept. 1, 2016), Table 3. This Court should grant certiorari to review the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) because the Federal Circuit’s dubious interpretation of the statute plays an outsized and detrimental role, both legally and economically, in the patent system

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work

Capacity deployment for cellular networks

The goal of this project was to utilize System Dynamics modeling to analyze capacity deployment strategies for cellular communications companies. Using network, customer and financial sectors, the model accounts for the important factors that need to be considered when cellular providers choose to add additional capacity to their networks in order to gain customers and profits

Transportation data management in the City of Cambridge

This project has served to develop a basic foundation and framework for a traffic management tool for use by the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department in order to assist in decision-making. After reviewing current standards and practices, a standard for the collection and submission of traffic data to the department was determined and an electronic database was created to store and analyze traffic data. The usefulness of the tool was demonstrated through graphs and outputs of the database

Acrolein-Activated Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 Contributes to Persistent Mucin Production

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a global public health problem, is characterized by progressive difficulty in breathing, with increased mucin production, especially in the small airways. Acrolein, a constituent of cigarette smoke and an endogenous mediator of oxidative stress, increases airway mucin 5, subtypes A and C (MUC5AC) production; however, the mechanism remains unclear. In this study, increased mMUC5AC transcripts and protein were associated with increased lung matrix metalloproteinase 9 (mMMP9) transcripts, protein, and activity in acrolein-exposed mice. Increased mMUC5AC transcripts and mucin protein were diminished in gene-targeted Mmp9 mice [Mmp9(-/-)] or in mice treated with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, erlotinib. Acrolein also decreased mTissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase protein 3 (an MMP9 inhibitor) transcript levels. In a cell-free system, acrolein increased pro-hMMP9 cleavage and activity in concentrations (100–300 nM) found in sputum from subjects with COPD. Acrolein increased hMMP9 transcripts in human airway cells, which was inhibited by an MMP inhibitor, EGFR-neutralizing antibody, or a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) 3/2 inhibitor. Together these findings indicate that acrolein can initiate cleavage of pro-hMMP9 and EGFR/MAPK signaling that leads to additional MMP9 formation. Augmentation of hMMP9 activity, in turn, could contribute to persistent excessive mucin production

Acrolein-activated matrix metalloproteinase 9 contributes to persistent mucin production

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a global public health problem, is characterized by progressive difficulty in breathing, with increased mucin production, especially in the small airways. Acrolein, a constituent of cigarette smoke and an endogenous mediator of oxidative stress, increases airway mucin 5, subtypes A and C (MUC5AC) production; however, the mechanism remains unclear. In this study, increased mMUCSAC transcripts and protein were associated with increased lung matrix metalloproteinase 9 (mMMP9) transcripts, protein, and activity in acrolein-exposed mice. Increased mMUC5AC transcripts and mucin protein were diminished in gene-targeted Mmp9 mice [Mmp9(-/-)] or in mice treated with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, erlotinib. Acrolein also decreased mTissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase protein 3 (an MMP9 inhibitor) transcript levels. In a cell-free system, acrolein increased pro-hMMP9 cleavage and activity in concentrations (100-300 nM) found in sputum from subjects with COPD. Acrolein increased hMMP9 transcripts in human airway cells, which was inhibited by an MMP inhibitor, EGFR-neutralizing antibody, or a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) 3/2 inhibitor. Together these findings indicate that acrolein can initiate cleavage of pro-hMMP9 and EGFR/MAPK signaling that leads to additional MMP9 formation. Augmentation of hMMP9 activity, in turn, could contribute to persistent excessive mucin production

Potential carbon emissions dominated by carbon dioxide from thawed permafrost soils

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. Increasing temperatures in northern high latitudes are causing permafrost to thaw, making large amounts of previously frozen organic matter vulnerable to microbial decomposition. Permafrost thaw also creates a fragmented landscape of drier and wetter soil conditions that determine the amount and form (carbon dioxide (CO2), or methane (CH 4)) of carbon (C) released to the atmosphere. The rate and form of C release control the magnitude of the permafrost C feedback, so their relative contribution with a warming climate remains unclear. We quantified the effect of increasing temperature and changes from aerobic to anaerobic soil conditions using 25 soil incubation studies from the permafrost zone. Here we show, using two separate meta-analyses, that a 10 °C increase in incubation temperature increased C release by a factor of 2.0 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.8 to 2.2). Under aerobic incubation conditions, soils released 3.4 (95% CI, 2.2 to 5.2) times more C than under anaerobic conditions. Even when accounting for the higher heat trapping capacity of CH 4, soils released 2.3 (95% CI, 1.5 to 3.4) times more C under aerobic conditions. These results imply that permafrost ecosystems thawing under aerobic conditions and releasing CO2 will strengthen the permafrost C feedback more than waterlogged systems releasing CO2 and CH 4 for a given amount of C