Foam-in-place materials for high voltage insulation in a space environment

Dielectric polyurethane foam materials tested for high voltage insulation in space environmen

Low-speed wind-tunnel investigation of wing fins as trailing-vortex-alleviation devices on a transport airplane model

The trailing-vortex-alleviation effectiveness of both a one- and a two-fin configuration (semicircular with a radius of 0.043 semispan) on a jumbo-jet transport airplane model in its landing configuration was investigated in the Langley V/STOL tunnel, by the trailing-wing sensor technique. The fins were located on the upper surface of the transport model wing along the 30-percent-chord line. The fin configurations were effective in reducing the vortex-induced rolling moment, by amounts varying from 28 to 60 percent, on the trailing wing model located at a distance of 7.8 transport model wing spans downstream of the transport model. The flow over the fins and over the transport airplane model wing downstream of the fins was observed to be separated and turbulent. All fin configurations caused a reduction in maximum lift coefficient, a positive increment in drag coefficient, and an increment in nose-up pitching-moment coefficient on the transport airplane model

The Supreme Court\u27s Quiet Revolution in Induced Patent Infringement

The Supreme Court over the last decade or so has reengaged with patent law. While much attention has been paid to the Court’s reworking of what constitutes patent-eligible subject matter and enhancing tools to combat “patent trolls,” what many have missed is the Court’s reworking of the contours of active inducement of patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b). The Court has taken the same number of § 271(b) cases as subject matter eligibility cases—four. Yet this reworking has not garnered much attention in the literature. This Article offers the first comprehensive assessment of the Court’s efforts to define active inducement. In so doing, it identifies the surprising significance of the Court’s most recent case, Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc., where the Court held that a good faith belief on the part of the accused inducer that the relevant patent is invalid cannot negate the mental state required for inducement—the intent to induce acts of infringement. In so doing, the Court moved away from its policy of encouraging challenges to patent validity as articulated in Lear, Inc. v. Adkins and its progeny. This step away from Lear is significant and surprising, particularly where critiques of the patent system suggest there are too many invalid patents creating issues for competition. This Article critiques these aspects of Commil and then addresses lingering, unanswered questions. In particular, this Article suggests that a good faith belief that the induced acts are not infringing, which remains as a defense, should only act as a shield against past damages and not against prospective relief such as injunctions or ongoing royalties. The courts so far have failed to appreciate this important temporal dynamic

Should Foreign Patent Law Matter?

One of the most controversial issues in American law today is the extent to which it is appropriate for courts to consider foreign law when deciding issues of United States law. The debate has engaged the courts, Congress, and commentators, leading to discussions about completely banning references to non-United States law by courts. The reality is, however, that the United States courts often have to address or apply foreign law

The Expressive Impact of Patents

Patents represent a quid pro quo between the public and the inventor: in exchange for disclosing the invention, the inventor receives the right to exclude others from practicing her invention. They therefore serve as a source of technical information. Patents also communicate information to markets and companies that serve to reduce various transaction costs, allowing more efficient transactions and investment. Patents consequently communicate various types of information beyond the technical. There is no reason, however, that such messages must be limited to the technical or the pecuniary. This Article explores whether patents, like other governmental acts such as legislation, can create expressive harms. The grant of a patent could communicate a message of inferiority to groups whose identity is tied to their biology. The article analyzes this potential through the paradigm of granting patents on a “gay gene” or other biological process that predisposes a person toward a homosexual orientation. Other conditions implicated by my thesis are the deaf, dwarfs, and high-functioning autistics. These groups do not regard themselves as pathological or in need of “curing,” yet genetic discoveries offer the potential for their elimination through what is effectively privatized eugenics. The grant of a patent on such technologies affords the government’s imprimatur of such controversial technologies. The Article first reviews the scientific status of homosexuality. It then explores whether patents regarding sexual orientation could be a moral signal of inferiority by the government by suggesting that gays and lesbians are pathological. Finally, the Article offers various prescriptions to address this problem