Patent Litigation before the New Claims Court

The final chapter was written recently on the United States Court of Claims, a court which from its creation in 1855 had served as the nation's conscience. The existence of this court, which had served long and well in carrying out the task of a sovereign rendering justice against itself, along with the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, was terminated on October 1, 1982, and replaced by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the United States Claims Court. It is not the purpose of this paper to outline the history of the Court of Claims as that task has been done adequately by others. Rather, my aim is to discuss the changes which practitioners may expect in bringing patent suits against the United States in the new Claims Court.