Restoring the Fact/Law Distinction in Patent Claim Construction

Two decades ago, the Supreme Court sought to promote more effective, transparent patent litigation in Markman v. Westview Instruments by ruling that “the construction of a patent, including terms of art within its claim, is exclusively within the province of the court.” In so doing, the Court removed interpretation of patent claims from the black box of jury deliberations by holding that the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial did not extend to patent claim construction. Failing to find clear historical evidence of how claim construction was handled in 1791, the Court turned to “the relative interpretive skills of judges and juries and the statutory policies that ought to be furthered by the allocation.” It concluded that federal district court judges were better equipped than juries to resolve the mixed fact/law controversies inherent in construing disputed patent claim terms, thereby leading to more effective and transparent patent litigation. Fully achieving the Court’s goal of more effective and transparent patent litigation, however, depends on district judges having the flexibility to learn pertinent facts, build a reviewable record, and explain the basis for their claim constructions

Reframing Kurtz’s Painting: Colonial Legacies and Minority Rights in Ethnically Divided Societies

Minority rights constitute some of the most normatively and economically important human rights. Although the political science and legal literatures have proffered a number of constitutional and institutional design solutions to address the protection of minority rights, these solutions are characterized by a noticeable neglect of, and lack of sensitivity to, historical processes. This Article addresses that gap in the literature by developing a causal argument that explains diverging practices of minority rights protections as functions of colonial governments’ variegated institutional practices with respect to particular ethnic groups. Specifically, this Article argues that in instances where colonial governments politicize and institutionalize ethnic hegemony in the pre-independence period, an institutional legacy is created that leads to lower levels of minority rights protections. Conversely, a uniform treatment and depoliticization of ethnicity prior to independence ultimately minimizes ethnic cleavages post-independence and consequently causes higher levels of minority rights protections. Through a highly structured comparative historical analysis of Botswana and Ghana, this Article builds on a new and exciting research agenda that focuses on the role of long-term historio-structural and institutional influences on human rights performance and makes important empirical contributions by eschewing traditional methodologies that focus on single case studies that are largely descriptive in their analyses. Ultimately, this Article highlights both the strength of a historical approach to understanding current variations in minority rights protections and the varied institutional responses within a specific colonial government

Effect of Community Based Sensitization Campaign on Inclusive Education Policy for the Visually Impaired in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State

Conventionally, the blind children need braille literacy. This is why there are special education centres across the country to cater for them. However, the 21st century visually impaired persons need more than braille literacy. This is why the Federal Ministry of Education launched Inclusive Education Policy for the visually impaired in 2015. This study investigated the effect of sensitization campaign on both the experimental and control groups prior to and after sensitization campaign.Quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. Stratified random sampling method was used to select schools in the categorized areas of Egi, Ndoni, Egbema and Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. The sample of the study comprised eight hundred and sixty-six parents and two hundred and forty teachers purposively selected. The Community Sensitization Campaign on Inclusive Education Policy for the Visually Impaired Questionnaire (CSCIEPVIQ) was used to collect data from the 1126 participants. Collected data were analyzed with IBM SPSS. The research question raised was answered using descriptive statistics while the formulated hypothesis was tested at 0.05 alpha level with a multivariate test statistic Analysis of Covariance - ANCOVA. Findings revealed that parents and teachers who were exposed to the sensitization campaign on inclusive education policy for visually impaired gained much knowledge than those who were not exposed. The effect size of the intervention was found to be very high. It was recommended that there should be sensitization campaign for all visually impaired persons in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area. The parents and family members of the visually impaired should be specially acquainted with the prevailing policy too to encourage positive feelings in the family in particular and community at large. Keywords: Parents, Teachers, sensitization campaign, inclusive education policy, treatment group, control group, visual impairment DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-30-13 Publication date:October 31st 202

A Rare Case of Myeloid Sarcoma Presenting as an Anorectal Ulcer

Myeloid Sarcoma is a rare tumor composed of myeloblasts occurring at an extramedullary site like bones, or various soft tissues. Myeloid sarcoma may involve the gastrointestinal tract very rarely either solitarily, or occurring simultaneously with acute myeloid leukemia. Its diagnosis is challenging and needs biopsy and immunohistochemical staining. We are describing a case of myeloid sarcoma which presented as a painful anal ulcer mimicking an atypical fissure. Its appearance resembled crohn's disease on sigmoidoscopy. A biopsy of the ulcer along with histochemical staining led to the diagnosis of myeloid sarcoma. Our case demonstrates the need for aggressive evaluation of any common gastrointestinal complaint with an atypical presentation

Fever Associated with Gastrointestinal Shigellosis Unmasks Probable Brugada Syndrome

Since it was first described approximately 15 years ago, the Brugada Syndrome has spurred a significant quantity of interest in its underlying mechanism and physiology. The Brugada electrocardiographic pattern is characterized by right bundle branch block morphology and ST segment elevations in the right precordial leads with an absence of identifiable underlying structural heart disease. The syndrome is clinically significant since these patients are at a higher risk of developing malignant ventricular arrhythmias. One of the mechanisms behind the disorder involves mutations in specific myocardial sodium channels. Furthermore, these electrocardiographic changes appear to be temperature dependent. We present the case of a 35-year-old male who presented with intestinal Shigellosis and was also found to have Brugada-type electrocardiographic changes on ECG. The electrocardiographic changes that were present when the patient was admitted and febrile resolved following antibiotic therapy and defervescence

Anesthetic Evaluation and Perioperative Management in a Patient with New Onset Mediastinal Mass Syndrome Presenting for Emergency Surgery

Mediastinal mass syndrome (MMS) is a complex case that poses many challenges to the anesthesiologist. The cornerstone of management focuses on the potential hemodynamic changes associated with this syndrome. We describe the anesthetic management of a patient with a previously undiagnosed mediastinal mass presenting for emergency neurosurgical surgery