Patent Case Implicates Fundamental Due Process Question

One of the first cases the Supreme Court will consider in 2022 involves one of the oldest conundrums in U.S. jurisprudence, the division between issues-of-fact and issues-of-law, and how it affects due process. A design company’s petition for cert in respect to a patent infringement issue implicates what Dennis Crouch calls “ an odd dynamic in patent law.” Patent infringement is an issue-of-fact tried by a jury, but claim construction is often treated as a question of law and decided by a judge, thus settling a case before the right to a jury trial can be invoked. Does this undermine the Constitutionally protected jury system? Olaf Sööt Design, LLC v. Daktronics, Inc., et al., No. 21-438 (Petition) focuses-in on these issues.