Judge Michel (retiring May 31, 2010) posted his state of the court address, which is very interesting. Anyone interested in IP law should read these comments. Judge Michel will fully retire (i.e., not go on senior status) and work for “stronger Congressional support for all the Federal courts and other institutions such as the Patent and Trademark Office that are vital to the economy, the rule of law, and to the future of our country.”
The court has also adopted a new format for published slip opinions, using Century Schoolbook font for the text, effective May 19, 2010. This moves away from the sans serif Arial font that was previously used. The new format is similar to the Supreme Court slip opinion format.
Judge Michel’s remarks also indicated that the Federal Circuit website would be redesigned with many improvements, including text searching.