The Secret Circuit: The Little-Known Court Where the Rules of the Information Age Unfold

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was born in the early 1980s as part of the drive to liberalize and reinvigorate the American economy. Its docket covers the rules guiding patents, innovation, globalization, and much of government. Are these rules impelling the economy forward or holding it back? Are the policies that we have the policies that we want? The Secret Circuit demystifies this Court's work and answers these questions.

The US Federal Circuit Court, which is the nation's patent court of appeals, has become central to the growth of the US economy and international trade but few know of its workings, its power, or its mistakes. Consultant Abramson describes how the court was formed and how it works, the patent system and how it produces adversarial relationships, and the court's regulations that affect real-world issues with a nice set of "thrilling tales." He tackles the contentions between trade economics and trade politics, including how the roles of litigants great and small and the government work, or do not, and the Circuit's secrets, including the invasion of extraneous issues, the rise of digital chaos, the antitrust onslaught, and the necessary steps to reform patent control and regulation. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)