CreateSurvey: Patent Dispute Resolution

Patent Dispute Resolution

1. * Where are you located? 2. * You are currently employed as (check all that apply): Federal District Judge Federal Circuit Judge Litigator Patent Prosecutor General In-house Counsel Professor (Faculty) Professor (Adjunct) Professor (other) Mediator Arbitrator Other, please specify: 3. * If you are an attorney, how many attorneys are in your law firm, or if in-house, your legal department? Less than 5 5-10 11-20 21-50 Greater than 50 4. * How many years have you been involved in patent litigation? 0-3 4-7 8-10 11-15 16-20 20+ 5. * How many patent infringement cases have you been involved with? 1 2-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20+ 6. * Your pre-law education was: 7. * Are you registered with the USPTO as an agent or attorney? Agent Attorney Not registered 8. * How effective do you think the US Federal District Courts are in adjudicating patent disputes? Highly effective Effective Neutral Ineffective Highly ineffective 9. * What parts of the US Federal District Court patent adjudication process are you satisfied with? Check all that apply. Discovery Summary Judgment Markman Hearing Settlement Hearing Trial Damages Appeal Other, please specify: 10. * What parts of the US Federal District Court patent adjudication process are you dissatisfied with? Check all that apply. Discovery Summary Judgment Markman Hearing Settlement Hearing Trial Damages Appeal Other, please specify: 11. * In your experience, how long do patent law cases take to settle? Less than one month 1-3 months 4-6 months 7-12 months More than 12 months, please specify (months): 12. * How satisfied are you with the length of time it takes to settle? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 13. * In your experience, how long does it take to get a Markman hearing? Less than one month 1-3 months 4-6 months 7-12 months More than 12 months, please specify (months): 14. * How satisfied are you with the length of time it takes to get a Markman hearing? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 15. * What is your estimate for the amount of time it takes for US Federal District Courts to adjudicate a patent dispute through judgment? Less than one month 1-3 months 4-6 months 7-12 months 13-20 months 21-30 months 31-40 months More than 40 months, please specify (months): 16. * How satisfied are you with the length of time to resolve patent disputes through judgment in the US Federal District Courts? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 17. * In your experience, how long do patent related cases take to resolve through appeal? Less than 6 months 6-12 months 13-24 months 25-36 months More than 36 months, please specify (months): 18. * How satisfied are you with the length of time it takes to resolve cases through appeal? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 19. * How satisfied are you with the costs to resolve patent disputes in the US Federal District Courts? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 20. * Have you ever sought to adjudicate a patent dispute in a US Federal District outside your client's district? Yes No 21. * Please select the Circuit in which your favorite US Federal District Court sits. 22. * Please select the Circuit in which your least favorite US Federal District Court sits. 23. * Based on your experience, are patent related cases subject to higher rates of overturning at the appellate level than other non-patent related cases? Yes No 24. * What has been your experience with the appellate process at the Federal Circuit level? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 25. * Have you ever litigated a patent dispute in an international court? Yes No 26. * How effective was that? Highly effective Effective Neutral Ineffective Highly ineffective 27. * In which countries have you litigated? Select all that apply. Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Belgium Brazil British Virgin Islands Canada Chile China Czech Republic Denmark Egypt El Salvador Fiji Finland France Germany Greece India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico Monaco Montserrat Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Russia Saudi Arabia Serbia and Montenegro Singapore South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela Other, please specify: 28. * How satisfied are you with the scientific, technical, and patent law competency of US District Court judges? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 29. * How satisfied are you with the scientific, technical, and patent law competency of US Circuit Court judges? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 30. * How satisfied are you with the scientific, technical, and patent law competency of juries? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 31. * Do you believe that Federal District Court judges should be required to take specialized patent law courses, similar to MCLE requirements? Yes No 32. * Do you believe that the US should have a special Federal District patent court similar to the US Circuit Court of Appeals to handle patent cases? Yes No 33. * In 1998, a private National Patent Board was proposed whereby member companies would agree to resolve their patent disputes through non-binding arbitration. How effective do you believe this would be at resolving patent disputes? Highly effective Effective Neutral Ineffective Highly ineffective 34. * Do you believe that mediation/arbitration should be required for all disputes under $ 1 million? Yes No 35. * Would you be in favor of requiring a mandatory arbitration meeting before filing litigation in a patent dispute? Yes No 36. * Would you be in favor of requiring all arbitration agency panels to provide written opinions of their decisions? Yes No 37. * Would you be in favor of allowing adjudicators to review past arbitral decisions? Yes No 38. * Would you be in favor of creating an arbitration agency appellate panel to review appeals for a limited review of Markman claim construction? Yes No 39. * Would you be in favor of requiring all patent adjudicators to have scientific, technical and patent law backgrounds? Yes No 40. * Would you be in favor of requiring annual meetings of technical panels of arbitrators to review and be educated regarding arbitration decisions? Yes No 41. * Would you be in favor making arbitral decisions appealable beyond fraud or procedural errors? Yes No 42. * Have you ever used formalized Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in a patent dispute? Yes No 43. * If yes to Question 42, for what issues have you used formalized ADR? Validity Infringement Damages I've never used formalized ADR Other, please specify: 44. * Which forms of ADR have you used? Mediation Arbitration I've never used any form of ADR Other, please specify: 45. * My feeling toward using mediation in patent dispute cases is: Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied I've never used mediation in patent disputes 46. * Will you consider using mediation for patent disputes in the future? Yes No 47. * If yes to Question 46, what issues will you mediate? Validity Infringement Damages I will not consider using mediation in future patent disputes Other, please specify: 48. * My feeling toward using arbitration in patent dispute cases is: Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied I've never used arbitration in patent disputes 49. * Will you consider using arbitration for patent disputes in the future? Yes No 50. * If yes to Question 49, what issues will you arbitrate? Validity Infringement Damages I will not consider using arbitration in future patent disputes Other, please specify: 51. * Is your decision to use ADR affected by the potential amount in controversy? Yes No 52. * What factors do you (or would you) consider when deciding on whether to use ADR? Select all that apply. Cost Time Technical competency of adjudicators Patent law competency of adjudicators Appealability Amount in controversy Confidentiality Uniformity Other, please specify: 53. * Under what circumstances do you (or would you) choose to use formalized ADR? Select all that apply. Dispute is under $500K Dispute is under $1M Non-core technology to the client’s business Court-based adjudication has failed Previous experience with ADR was favorable Recommendation of counsel Recommendation of judge Other, please specify: 54. * Based on your experience, how often do large corporations (500+ employees) use mediation for patent disputes? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 55. * Based on your experience, how often do small corporations (less than 500 employees) use mediation for patent disputes? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 56. * Based on your experience, how often do large corporations (500+) employees use arbitration for patent disputes? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 57. * Based on your experience, how often do small corporations (less than 500 employees) use arbitration for patent disputes? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 58. * Based on your experience, approximately what percentage of patent infringement disputes reach settlement? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 59. * Based on your experience, approximately what percentage of patent infringement disputes settle prior to any court action? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 60. * Based on your experience, approximately what percentage of patent infringement disputes settle during discovery? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 61. * Based on your experience, approximately what percentage of patent infringement disputes settle after the claims have been construed? 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 62. * Based on your experience, approximately what percentage of patent infringement disputes settle during or immediately after final pretrial? (Note: immediately after pretrial means before trial begins.) 10% or less 11 to 30% 31 to 50% 51 to 70% 71 to 90% Greater than 90% I don’t know 63. * Mark each of the following Patent Dispute Resolution (PDR) proposals that you would like to see implemented (check all that apply): Adoption of modified Federal Rules of Evidence by arbitration agencies Require all patent adjudicators to have scientific, technical and patent law backgrounds Require mandatory arbitration meetings before commencing suit Require all arbitration agency panels to provide written opinions of their decisions Establish a body of precedent within each technical area to make the arbitration decisions more uniform Require annual meetings of technical panels to review and be educated regarding arbitration decisions Provide an arbitration agency appellate panel to review appeals for a limited review of Markman claim construction Other, please specify: 64. * Would you like to receive the results of this survey? No Yes, my email address is: