Overview

Imagine a high impact, low profile, nonpartisan government institution located across the street from the White House. Imagine that it plays a central role in shaping our technology industries, in overseeing globalization, and in holding the federal government responsible for its commercial activities. Imagine that only Congress and the Supreme Court can correct its mistakes. Such an institution exists. 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. Over the past twenty-five years, it has earned its nickname as the patent court by revolutionizing American patent law, but it also oversees international trade law and government business law. Taken together, its docket covers the rules guiding innovation, globalization, and much of government. Are these rules impelling the economy forward or holding it back? Are the policies we have the policies we want? How are we faring, as the economy transitions from the industrial age to the information age? What responsibility does the Federal Circuit bear in shaping America's current economic policies in these three critical areas? The Secret Circuit demystifies this Court's work and answers these questions.

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9780742552807

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Reviews

The Federal Circuit-the nation's patent court of appeals-is at center stage of current controversies over U.S. patent law. Bruce Abramson's new book is an authoritative study of the court, remarkable for the lucidity with which it describes highly technical legal and scientific issues, and critical but fair-minded. -- Richard A. Posner, U.S. Circuit Judge Abramson has produced a provocative look at a Court who's power is far greater than most realize. In doing so, he has brought to life the Federal Circuit's rich history, its jurisprudential successes and failures, and the very real challenges facing what is perhaps the most important legal body in the modern U.S. economy. -- R. Polk Wagner, University of Pennsylvania Law School ... The Secret Circuit serves as an excellent primer on the last time the law was revised while also providing some good analysis on the effectiveness of America's patent system in achieving economic growth. -- Joshua Spivak, December 2007 In this remarkable book, Bruce Abramson provides a lively tutorial to our entire legal system, through the lens of a little-known, but highly important court in the United States that determines the validity of patents and regulates international trade. It is a tour de force which should be widely read. -- Robert Litan, Vice President for Research and Policy, Kauffman Foundation, and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Brookings Institution

In this remarkable book, Bruce Abramson provides a lively tutorial to our entire legal system, through the lens of a little-known, but highly important court in the United States that determines the validity of patents and regulates international trade. It is a tour de force which should be widely read.--Robert Litan

Author Information

Bruce D. Abramson received his Ph.D. from Columbia and his J.D. from Georgetown. He is the President of Informationism, Inc., a San Francisco-based consultancy that helps an international clientele understand the law, the policies, the economics, and the strategic uses of intellectual property. He has served as a member of the Computer Science faculty at the University of Southern California and as a law clerk at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is the author of Digital Phoenix: Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How It Will Rise Again (MIT Press, 2005). His blog, The Informationist, (www.theinformationist.com), contains his musings on IP, tech policy, and numerous other issues.

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