Local Patent Rules

Local patent rules exist in certain federal district courts. The rules cover patent litigation in those district courts. The rules regulate disputes about the patent(s) between the parties (infringement, non-infringement and invalidity), access to other information and what the claims mean. Sometimes the contentions are referred to as preliminary invalidity contentions and preliminary infringement contentions. Some of the rules have removed the term "preliminary" from each type of contention. Most of the rules address the form and substance of patent claim charts for both plaintiffs and defendants.

Because Patdek is directed to organizing patent information we decided to highlight how the local rules address invalidity contentions. To the left are local patent rules for courts throughout the United States (over 20 jurisdictions have patent local rules).