Should Anyone Care that Sexual Assault is “Out of Character” for Biden?

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb considers what people mean when they say that a sexual assault allegation seems “out of character” for a particular person and explains why that reasoning is logically flawed. Focusing on differences between how people behave publicly and privately, Colb argues that the lack of an observed pattern of sexual misconduct is not evidence that a person did not engage in sexual misconduct on a specific occasion.

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Caterpillar Paving Products, Inc. v. Wirtgen America, Inc.

Docket: 20-1261

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Timothy B. Dyk

Areas of Law: Intellectual Property, Patents

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted inter partes review of Caterpillar’s patent and issued its final written decision on November 13, 2019. Caterpillar appealed, then moved to vacate and remand for a new hearing before a differently constituted panel in light of the Federal Circuit’s 2019 “Arthrex” holding that the administrative patent judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board were improperly appointed. The Federal Circuit denied the motion. Unlike prior cases, which have been remanded, Arthrex issued before the Board’s final written decision in Caterpillar’s case. The Arthrex holding was expressly limited “to those cases where final written decisions were issued.” The court rejected an argument that even if the panel members became constitutional immediately before issuing the final written decision, that “does not cure a year’s worth of constitutional violations influencing the Board’s thinking and conclusions.”