Time dependent reliability model incorporating continuum damage mechanics for high-temperature ceramics

Presently there are many opportunities for the application of ceramic materials at elevated temperatures. In the near future ceramic materials are expected to supplant high temperature metal alloys in a number of applications. It thus becomes essential to develop a capability to predict the time-dependent response of these materials. The creep rupture phenomenon is discussed, and a time-dependent reliability model is outlined that integrates continuum damage mechanics principles and Weibull analysis. Several features of the model are presented in a qualitative fashion, including predictions of both reliability and hazard rate. In addition, a comparison of the continuum and the microstructural kinetic equations highlights a strong resemblance in the two approaches

Harmony and Diversity in Global Patent Law

The second half of the twentieth century saw the rise of a broad movement to harmonize patent laws across nation-states. The most recent, and most significant, manifestation of this movement is the 1994 TRIPS Agreement, which requires signatory nations to adopt uniform rules on many major issues of patent law. The TRIPS Agreement has now been implemented by well over one hundred countries, including almost all major industrial nations, and it heralds a new level of international uniformity in patent law. This Article, while acknowledging the value of some harmonization of national law , explores the possible costs of the harmonization movement. Patent law itself owes its very birth not to harmony but to diversity of national law. The fifteenth-century Venetian patent statute was an experiment in law and a departure from the classical hostility to monopoly. Throughout the history of patent law, individual nations have varied their law and practice, and the results of these experiments have strengthened and improved patent practice. Diversity and experimentation continue today. As case studies of such experimentation, this Article examines business method patents and law governing the experimental use defense to patent infringement, an area in which both commentators and nations have split as to the proper approach for the law. This Article concludes that the patent law of the twenty-first century would be enriched if national and international policymakers learn to value variety

KSR v. Teleflex: Predictable Reform of Patent Substance and Procedure in the Judiciary

Though KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc. is now widely acknowl-edged in the bar and the academy to be the most significant patent case in at least a quarter century, that view dramatically underestimates the impor-tance of the decision. The KSR decision has immense significance not merely because it rejected the standard of patentability that had been applied in the lower courts for decades, but also because it highlights many separate trends that are reshaping the patent system. This Commentary will touch upon four such trends that are clearly evi-dent in KSR. First, the case was a predictable continuation of the Supreme Court’s reengagement in the field of patent law. Second, the decision repre-sents a continued revision to the substantive standards applied in patent law. Third, and perhaps most overlooked, KSR heralds a significant procedural reform to patent litigation. Fourth, the decision presents a classic example of the judiciary revising judge-made doctrines in response to external criticism. This final point raises the interesting theoretical issue of whether the tradi-tional common law process in the patent field has been fatally hobbled by the creation of a single intermediate appellate court with jurisdiction over most patent cases. KSR holds out the hope that the judiciary is still capable of overseeing the field in the traditional manner, but developments in the Congress and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) suggest that this tradition may be coming to an end

KSR v. Teleflex: Predictable Reform of Patent Substance and Procedure in the Judiciary

Though KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc. is now widely acknowl-edged in the bar and the academy to be the most significant patent case in at least a quarter century, that view dramatically underestimates the impor-tance of the decision. The KSR decision has immense significance not merely because it rejected the standard of patentability that had been applied in the lower courts for decades, but also because it highlights many separate trends that are reshaping the patent system. This Commentary will touch upon four such trends that are clearly evi-dent in KSR. First, the case was a predictable continuation of the Supreme Court’s reengagement in the field of patent law. Second, the decision repre-sents a continued revision to the substantive standards applied in patent law. Third, and perhaps most overlooked, KSR heralds a significant procedural reform to patent litigation. Fourth, the decision presents a classic example of the judiciary revising judge-made doctrines in response to external criticism. This final point raises the interesting theoretical issue of whether the tradi-tional common law process in the patent field has been fatally hobbled by the creation of a single intermediate appellate court with jurisdiction over most patent cases. KSR holds out the hope that the judiciary is still capable of overseeing the field in the traditional manner, but developments in the Congress and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) suggest that this tradition may be coming to an end

On Improving the Legal Process of Claim Interpretation: Administrative Alternatives

Part I of this Essay introduces the existing law governing the institutional allocation of the power to interpret patent claims. Part II provides a compendium of “the relevant prior art”—the existing legal mechanisms that could be useful in analyzing the technical problem introduced in part I. Part III addresses the last and most difficult issue, albeit the one simplest to grasp. The success of a technical invention is typically evaluated by quantitative results. In the domain of technology, practicality counts—not abstract analogies, nor a priori conjectures, nor unsubstantiated predictions. For most technologies, quantitative results are easy; the market provides them. The proof of the better mousetrap is not that the world will beat a path to your door, but that it will pay money once it gets there