CHICAGO, May 20, 2013 – The American Bar Association has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the intellectual property case of Lighting Ballast Control LLC v. Philips Electronics North America Corp. and University Lighting Technologies Inc.

The ABA submitted its brief, which supports neither party, in response to a request from the Federal Circuit for briefing (including amici briefing) on questions concerning its standard for review of district court determinations of patent claim construction. In the brief, the ABA urges that, while the Federal Circuit should review de novo the ultimate issue of claim construction, a review under the clearly erroneous standard of the trial court’s underlying findings of fact would better account for the often fact-intensive complexities inherent in these cases.

ABA policy underlying the brief was developed by the association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law, whose 25,000 members represent patent owners, accused infringers, individual inventors, large and small corporations, research institutions, and public and private colleges and universities across a wide range of technologies and industries.

The ABA brief is available online here.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.