2015

Farewell, Fed. R. Civ. P. Form 18
This is not the first, but we do hope it’s the last, time we’ll speak about Form 18 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. That is the ancient form complaint of patent infringement—it pre–dates WWII—that has allowed plaintiffs to file lawsuits against accused infringers without really having to say much of anything other than, “We have a patent that you infringe; pay us some damages.”
If you’re interested in the back–story, you can find further details here.
If you’re interested in how this fairy–tale ends, suffice it to say that on December 1, 2015, when the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure go into effect, Form 18 will be no more. That means that a civil complaint of patent infringement will have to satisfy the same standard as any other civil complaint in federal court, i.e., the complaint will have to state a plausible claim for relief as defined by the Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009). That should mean that plaintiffs will have to provide a factual basis for their allegations of patent infringement, requiring a bit more meat on the bones of claims than Form 18 required.
Speaking of which, in addition to turkey dinners, we can also anticipate that the Thanksgiving weekend will bring a flood of patent infringement lawsuits filed just before the stroke of midnight on December 1 when the magical Form 18 will turn from a glowing carriage of legal claims into a pumpkin of implausibility.

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