The 79-year-old dean of the patent bar helped create the Federal Circuit back in 1982. This week, the appellate court handed a big win to him and his client Uniloc, reinstating a Rhode Island jury's infringement verdict against Microsoft. And that whole elimination of the 25 percent rule in the Federal Circuit's Uniloc opinion? Not a big deal, Dunner says.

Corporate Counsel magazine's annual survey of general counsel, out this week, tells a familiar story: A nearly unchanged roster of corporations hired (mostly) the same giant firms, and they made the same demands about alternative billing and reduced fees. But this year, there's a twist--clients actually seem to mean it. Plus: Who represents the Fortune 100?

A judge and jury found that Callaway's patents on its "dual personality" golf ball were valid, but the Federal Circuit ordered a new trial on the question of whether the patents were anticipated. Now if only we could get the appellate panel to issue an order fixing our wicked slice!

There's something happening in patent litigation. And it's pretty clear that it has to do with a case pending in the Federal Circuit that will affect the lifespan of patents whose applications were delayed by the Patent and Trademark Office.