The University of Texas at Austin   School of Law

This seminar will make a case study of one high-stakes case, i4i LP v.  Microsoft Corp., currently pending before the U.S.  Supreme Court.  This patent case, filed and eventually tried in the Eastern District of Texas, was one of the top patent cases of 2009, primarily because it resulted in one of the biggest patent infringement damages awards in history and a permanent injunction enjoining Microsoft from selling an exceedingly popular product.  Then, in 2010, the case became one of the most watched IP appeals--in part because the opening brief involved a no-holds-bar assault on the trial judge.  Now the U.S.  Supreme Court has granted the markedly biting cert petition of Microsoft, two-time loser below, which asks the High Court to revisit a long-standing black-letter rule of patent law.  This exploration is designed to give basic context to those unfamiliar with IP litigation and practical lessons to be derived from an environment loaded with subtext and unlikely soap opera.  Students will give a presentation and prepare a final paper.

Civil Litigation

Intellectual Property Law

Research and Writing