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Patent Claim Construction: A Survey of Federal District Court Judges

Rebecca N. Eyre, Joe S. Cecil, Eric Topor
January 1, 2008

This report presents the results of a survey of federal district court judges regarding their use of patent litigation case management and claim construction procedures. When applicable, the report also compares these judges' reported practices with the recommendations contained in four recent sources. In general, surveyed judges' reported practices are consistent with the sources' recommendations, and judges who are relatively more experienced with patent litigation and claim construction tended to give similar answers to those given by judges less experienced in these areas.