Significant amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
became effective on December 1, 2015 and include an important
change to patent infringement pleading practice and the most
notable revisions to the civil discovery rules in years. All
attorneys, and particularly patent litigators, should become
familiar with these amendments, which apply to all cases pending as
of December 1.
Pleadings: Goodbye to Bare-Bones Patent Infringement
Complaints?
The new amendments abrogate the Appendix of Forms, including
Form 18: a bare-bones complaint for patent infringement alleging
nothing more than the existence of a patent and infringement of it.
That form generated controversy because it seemed in conflict with
the "plausibility" pleading requirements required by the
Supreme Court in Twombly and Iqbal. Nonetheless,
the Federal Circuit has held that a complaint that was consistent
with Form 18 was immunized from attack. Without Form 18, patent
infringement complaints
