In re Smith: The Federal Circuit Jumps the Shark

Last June, Gene Quinn published an iconic article, “Yu v. Apple Settles It: The CAFC is Suffering from a Prolonged Version of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome,” in which Mr. Quinn evokes Lewis Carrol’s White Queen, “who was known to have sometimes ‘believed six impossible things before breakfast’” to describe the ridiculous nature of the Yu. v. Apple decision. To Judge Taranto’s credit, the Yu v. Apple decision is a remarkable read, so long as one knows nothing of photography and nineteenth century art history. However, in less than three months after Yu. V. Apple, the Federal Circuit would progress from mere fiction to fantasy / science fiction in both the In re Killian case (in which the author served as counsel for Killian) and the more recent case of In re Jason Smith, Appeal 22-1310 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 9, 2022), in which Judges Lourie, Dyk, and Hughes rejected Smith’s claims in an act that is aptly described as “jumping the shark.”Read More