Hearing on summary judgment motions in claim and continuation rules case this morningFebruary 8, 2008

This morning at 10:00 EST, Judge James C. Cacheris in the Eastern District of Virginia will hold a hearing on the parties' motions for summary judgment in the consolidated cases challenging the USPTO's claim and continuation rules. When ruling on the preliminary injunction, Judge Cacheris granted the injunction in a ruling from the bench at the conclusion of the hearing, so it's possible that he may rule from the bench once again today. However, because the preliminary injunction ruling had to be made quickly as the rules were set to go into effect the next day, we may not see a ruling from the bench on summary judgment.

We are planning on having a representative at the hearing who will let us know if there is a ruling today, and provide a short synopsis of the proceedings. The PLI Patent Law Blog will be doing the same, as they did with the preliminary injunction hearing. Dennis Crouch predicts a partial win for the challengers.

This post has links to the summary judgment filings by the parties and amici.