Judge Diane Wood Thinks We Would be Better Off if the Federal Circuit Just Went Away

Chief Judge Diane Wood is a Smart Person

According to an article published Monday evening in the online version of the Wall St. Journal, Judge Wood, who just happens to be the chief of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, thinks that we'd all be better off if the Federal Circuit were eliminated.  Patent appeals would go back to the regular circuits, the way it used to be, so that we can get "a diversity of viewpoints on patent law the way we do with nearly every other legal subject."

Yeah, because we're not getting enough "diversity of viewpoints" from the twelve judges that currently sit on the Federal Circuit.  Like when they hear an important case en banc and produce seven opinions, none of which attract a majority of the court. That kind of monolithic thinking is not serving us well.

This could work out GREAT!!!  Sure!  You think the Supreme Court has been hearing a lot of patent cases lately?  Just wait until we go back to having circuit splits on patent law issues. And even more forum shopping!  Awesome!