Andrew Guilford U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford of the Central District of California, now with Judicate West. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

Patent law is having an international relations crisis.

Judges, scholars and practitioners from China, the United States and Australia came together Jan. 22 to talk about what one academic called "an alarming trend" that could lead to "national judicial hostility," and that a former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director said poses a threat to innovation.