Chief Judge Paul R. Michel\u27s Address to the Federal Circuit Judicial Conference on the State of the Court, 7 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 647 (2008)

On May 15, 2008, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Paul R. Michel delivered the annual State of the Court speech. Chief Judge Michel delivered this speech during the Federal Circuit Judicial Conference, held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington. The text of that speech and the corresponding graphics appear here

Judicial Litigation Reforms Make Comprehensive Patent Legislation Unnecessary as Well as Counterproductive

The patent system provides the necessary incentives for continuing investments in invention, fostering economic growth, creating new jobs and increasing America\u27s competitiveness in the global marketplace. In fact, innovation is now our only competitive advantage. Intellectual property, particularly patents, now constitutes nearly 80% of the value of most corporations. But the innovation eco-system is under heavy stress due to five converging hurricane-force winds, all intersecting in just the last two or so years: the impact of the new reviews authorized by the America Invents Act, invalidating most challenged patents; six landmark Supreme court decisions, particularly three casting doubt over the validity of countless patents that may now be deemed ineligible to even have been considered for patentability; the Judiciary\u27s changes last December in the Rules of Civil Procedure on pleadings and discovery; vigorous case management procedures in local patent rules and individual judge\u27s standing Orders; and the Patent Pilot program for volunteer judges to specialize in patent cases. Although the system is struggling to adjust and recover, investment incentives, patent values, patent licensing and patent sales are all down. Can company stock values be far behind? Will growth stagnate? Nevertheless, Congress, concerned about abuses by some irresponsible patent owners known as trolls , threatens to impose a series of new restrictions on the enforcement of all patents, no matter how clearly valid and infringed. They would make defending patent rights still more expensive, more difficult, more disruptive, slower, and less certain. If enacted, these bills would further impair an already weakened patent system, further depressing investments and progress in science and the useful arts , which the Constitution mandates Congress to support with the patent system. Small businesses, start-ups, universities, research institutes, hospitals and individual inventors would be hardest hit. Yet, these very institutions create most new jobs and most new technologies. But their interests and those of 99% of the companies in America go largely unheard in a Congress besieged by a few dozen very large, very rich and very angry companies, mostly Silicon Valley mega IT companies, demanding relief from patent suits. How did this tragedy happen and what you can do about it is the subject of this address

Ethanol triggers grape gene expression leading to anthocyanin accumulation during berry ripening

Recent studies have shown that low doses of ethanol stimulate the maturation of some fruits. The present work showed that spraying Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, with 5% ethanol at veraison enhances the anthocyanin accumulation. Veraison is the time when the berries turn from green to purple. HPLC analysis showed a marked increase in the total concentrations of the derivatives of delphinidin, cyanidin, petunidin, peonidin and malvidin from the fourth day after the ethanol treatment until harvest. This was not linked to a difference in berry weight in comparison to controls. Two distinct expression patterns were found for anthocyanin biosynthesis genes in the treated and untreated berries. For one group, consisting of chalcone synthase, flavanone-3-hydroxylase, dihydroxyflavonol-4-reductase and leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase, the expression was inhibited or unchanged by the ethanol treatment, whereas for UDP glucose-flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT) there was a marked increase in expression from 1 to 20 days after ethanol treatment. These results suggest that the UFGT gene is a key factor in the observed anthocyanin accumulation following ethanol treatment