Richard Linn (born April 13, 1944 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
) is a
Senior United States circuit judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...
.
Education and Experience
As a youth, Linn attended
Poly Prep Country Day School
Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an independent, co-educational day school with two campuses in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The Middle School (5th to 8th grades) and Upper School (9th to 12th grades) are loca ...
. He earned a
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (B.E.E. or BEE) is an undergraduate academic degree offered to a student who completes three to five years of study in electrical engineering at a university or college. Many institutes offer Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Va ...
in 1965. He was a patent examiner,
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...
from 1965 to 1968. He earned a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
from
Georgetown University Law Center
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment a ...
in 1969. Linn served as a patent adviser in the
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to pla ...
of the
Naval Air Systems Command
The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to the ...
from 1971 to 1972. He specialized in
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...
and
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
law in private practice at the law firms of Marks & Murase, and
Foley & Lardner
Foley & Lardner LLP (often referred to simply as "Foley") is an international law firm founded in 1842. In terms of revenue, it ranked 48th on The American Lawyer's 2022 AmLaw 100 rankings of U.S. law firms, with over $1 billion in gross revenue i ...
.
[
]
Federal judicial service
Linn was nominated by President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...
on September 28, 1999, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...
vacated by Judge Giles Rich
Giles Sutherland Rich (May 30, 1904 – June 9, 1999) was an associate judge of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) and later on was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circu ...
. He was confirmed by the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and ...
on November 19, 1999, and received commission on November 22, 1999.[ He was sworn in on January 1, 2000. He assumed ]senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
on October 31, 2012.[
][
]
Other work
From 2001 to 2003, he was an adjunct professor at George Washington University School of Law
The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cour ...
. Linn was a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Virginia State Bar Section on Patent, Trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from oth ...
and Copyright Law
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
. He received the Rensselaer Alumni Association Fellows Award in 2000.
Linn Inn Alliance
Linn became actively involved in the American Inns of Court
American Inns of Court (AIC) are designed to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar. An American Inn of Court is an amalgam of judges, lawyers, and in some cases, law professors and law students. Each Inn meets approx ...
movement upon joining the Federal Circuit in 2000, when he began attending monthly meetings of the Giles Sutherland Rich American Inn of Court at the Federal Circuit.[ Linn later served a term as President of the Giles Rich Inn.
The Richard Linn American Inn of Court was formed in Chicago on the initiative of Olivia Luk, a lawyer who had been mentored by Linn at the Giles Rich Inn.][ Upon moving to Chicago, Luk found that there was no Inn of Court focused on intellectual property there, and asked for Linn's help in forming an organizing committee.][ The organizers later decided to name the Inn for him in honor of his contributions to intellectual property law, and the Linn Inn was chartered in 2007.][
The Linn Inn Alliance also began in 2007, as an alliance of the Linn Inn with the four previously-existing intellectual property focused American Inns of Court: the Giles Rich Inn, the John Lifland Inn (New Jersey), the Benjamin Franklin Inn (Philadelphia), and th]
San Francisco Bay Area IP Inn of Court
[ Expanding this alliance, Linn set out to form additional intellectual property focused Inns of Court in most major American cities, and within five years, the Tokyo IP Inn of Court became the 21st member of the Linn Inn Alliance, and the first to be formed outside the United States.][ Through the alliance, the IP Inns share their creative programs and allow visiting attorneys to attend meetings of sister Inns while traveling.][
]
Notable cases
* ''NTP, Inc.
NTP, Inc. is a Virginia-based patent holding company founded in 1992 by the late inventor Thomas J. Campana Jr. and Donald E. Stout. The company's primary asset is a portfolio of 50 US patents and additional pending US and international patent app ...
v. Research In Motion
BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it was originally known as Research In Motion (RIM). As RIM, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartphones, and tablets ...
'' (BlackBerry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...
patent litigation)
* ''800 Adept v. Targus'' (Toll-free telephone number
A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefi ...
patent litigation )
* ''Uniloc
Uniloc Corporation was a company founded in Australia in 1992.
History
The Uniloc technology is based on a patent granted to the inventor Ric Richardson who was also the founder of the Uniloc Company. The original patent application was date ...
USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.'', 632 F.3d 1292 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (patent damages 25% Rule rejected Patently-O Article re ''Uniloc v. Microsoft''
/ref>)
References
External links
*
Federal Circuit website
About Judge Linn
Richard Linn American Inn of Court website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linn, Richard
1944 births
BlackBerry Limited people
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
George Washington University Law School faculty
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Living people
Lawyers from New York City
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Bill Clinton
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges