DC Chapter Upcoming Event

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The LES-Greater Washington, DC chapter is pleased to present the following luncheon presentation:

Date:
February 12, 2008

Time:
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.

Speaker:
Stanton D. Weinstein, Lockheed Martin

Topic:
Recent Federal Circuit Decisions on the Impact of the Tangentiality and "Some Other Reason" Exceptions to Application of Prosecution History Estoppel and the Doctrine of Equivalents
In his presentation, Stan Weinstein will discuss recent Federal Circuit decisions that address an aspect of proper interpretation of the scope of patent claims that were amended during prosecution, following the Supreme Court’s Festo VIII decision.  Tangentiality and "some other reason" are two of the exceptions, specified in the Festo decisions, to strict application of prosecution history estoppel to limit application of the doctrine of equivalents. Recent decisions of the Federal Circuit have interpreted and applied these principles in determining whether the doctrine of equivalents would be available in a determination of proper scope for a claim under consideration.  In some (but not all) of those recent decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided that prosecution history estoppel did not limit application of the doctrine of equivalents to a patent claim even though the claim being considered had been amended during prosecution to overcome an Examiner’s prior art rejection. Stan will make some observations on approaches one can take in drafting, prosecuting and litigating patents in view of the shifting sands of jurisprudence in the area.

Location:
Winston & Strawn LLP
1700 K Street, N.W., Twelfth Floor
Washington, DC 20006-3817

Cost and Registration:
$20 for LES members
$25 for non-members

Online Registration:

LES Members and online account holders:
To register online for this event you will need your log in and password. Please click here to register.

Non LES Members:
You will need to create an account prior to registering for this event.
Please click here to create an account.

Once your account has been created proceed to registration as an online account holder.

For more information about these programs and participating in future programs, please contact the Greater Washington, DC Chapter Chair, Raymond Van Dyke at vandyke@acm.org