How many Supreme Court Justices can you count as friends? Professor Stephen Yelderman, one of America’s leading IP scholars, was recruited to join the Notre Dame Law School faculty by future Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch before and after he joined the Supreme Court. 

Prof. Yelderman’s experience of having a personal connection to not one, but two Supreme Court justices, as well as having clerked at the Supreme Court, have provided him with a unique perspective into how the Supreme Court approaches patent and other IP issues. 

“One of the cool things about the court is there's usually nine justices and at least nine clerks, all thinking about the exact same legal issues at the exact same moment in time. And it really leads to a level of engagement, and conversation and debate. That really is a lot of fun.”

In today’s incredibly candid episode, Prof. Yelderman shares his journey into patent law, why he chose to become a patent agent, meeting Justice Amy Coney Barrett, clerking at the Supreme Court, and the creative ways companies try to influence the Supreme Court.   

Prof. Yelderman insights are not to be missed by anyone who is interested in having a better understanding of how the Supreme Court approaches IP issues, how the patent system truly works, and how to succeed in the legal field. 

“A piece of advice I have is when an opportunity comes, say yes to it because you oftentimes don't have good visibility to all the doors that will open down the road.”

On today’s podcast:

• From engineering at Stanford to patent law to clerking at the Supreme Court
• Misguided thinking about “patent quality”
• Different approaches to anticipation and obviousness during USPTO examination, PTAB proceedings, and district court litigation
• Meeting and working with ACB before she joined the Supreme Court
• The one patent case ACB decided before joining the Supreme Court that cited one of Prof. Yelderman’s articles
• How and why the Supreme Court approaches IP cases differently from other cases
• Gorsuch’s correct approach to patent cases & the one case he got wrong
• Why Gorsuch’s concerns regarding the PTAB are likely to be the future consensus 
• Efforts to influence Supreme Court & impact of atmospherics on the justices’ decisions regarding patent cases

 

Links:

• Stephen Yelderman

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