Former Fed. Circuit Judge Predicts Shake-Up on Influential Court

A former judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit urged a trade group to prepare for turnover on the influential court with jurisdiction over patent cases.

“There are several judges on that court who are in their 80s or 90s, and that reality is something you all should be paying attention to,” Kathleen O’Malley told a room full of attorneys at the Intellectual Property Owners Association annual conference in Boston on Sunday.

O’Malley pointedly declined to weigh in on the ongoing controversy involving the court and the federal judiciary’s oldest active judge, 96-year-old Pauline Newman. Newman ...