Western District of Pennsylvania Adds Two New Designated Patent Judges

by: Robert Wagner, intellectual property attorney at Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, P.C. (Robert Wagner on G+)

As reported earlier, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania was chosen to be one of 14 District Courts nationwide to participate in a 10-year Patent Pilot Program to study the effects of providing specialized patent judges on patent litigation. On October 12, 2011, the Court issued an order setting forth the procedures it will use in implementing this program. Among other things, the Court identified four judges who are designated as the official Designated Patent Judges for the Court:

• Chief Judge Gary L. Lancaster
• Judge Joy Flowers Conti
• Judge Arthur J. Schwab
• Judge Nora Barry Fischer

Under the Court’s guidelines, patent cases are still randomly assigned to all Judges in the District, regardless of whether they are Designated Patent Judges. However, a non-Designated Patent Judge has the option of declining the case. If he or she does so, the case will be randomly reassigned to one of the Designated Patent Judges.

Since the Court’s implementing order, it has added two new Designated Patent Judges:

• Judge Cathy Bissoon
• Judge Mark R. Hornak

The Court has created a special Patent Pilot Program page on its website, which has a variety of information about the program, including the Court’s Local Patent Rules.