Paul Redmond Michel
How Judge Michel rules, drawn from 28 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Michel no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Michel
Paul Redmond Michel was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Michel received a commission on March 4, 1988. Judge Michel retired on May 31, 2010.
How Judge Michel decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Irdeto Access v. Echostar, he affirmed a noninfringement judgment after reading “group key” in the patent’s specification as limited to fewer than all subscribers.
“A reasonable competitor reading the patent could only understand ‘group’ to refer to a subset of all subscribers.”
In United States Shoe, he held that the Harbor Maintenance Tax on exports was a tax rather than a valid user fee because its amount did not fairly approximate an exporter’s use of the port.
“Since the HMT is not a valid user fee, it must be a tax.”
Procedural preferences
In Scanner Technologies v. ICOS Vision, he vacated summary judgment of noninfringement because the district court’s claim construction wrongly limited the disputed illumination terms to a single light source.
“We hold that the claim terms ‘an illumination apparatus’ and ‘illuminating’ in the '756 and '757 patents respectively encompass one or more illumination sources.”
Cautions
In Farrel Corp. v. ITC, he held that an arbitration agreement did not fit the specified exceptions to the Commission’s duty to complete a section 337 investigation.
“The statutory exceptions in section 337(c) must be interpreted narrowly and neither the Commission nor Pomini contends that the arbitration agreement could somehow be characterized as a consent order or a settlement agreement between the parties.”
In Novacor Chemicals, he held that the statute did not expressly waive federal sovereign immunity for interest on refunded duty drawback and reversed the interest award.
“We must strictly construe the statute, for we may not imply a waiver.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“AFFIRMED-IN-PART and REVERSED-IN-PART.”
“VACATED AND REMANDED.”
“Because we find that the district court did not err in either its construction of the disputed claim terms or its resulting finding of non-infringement as a matter of law under the doctrine of equivalents, we affirm.”
“REVERSED AND REMANDED.”
“REVERSED AND REMANDED.”
“Accordingly, we affirm in all respects the decision of the Court of International Trade granting judgment for the United States.”
“Therefore, we reverse the judgment. The case is remanded for further proceedings to determine the amount of damages due to Coast.”
“Because Gibson fails to persuade us that the Board committed legal error and we hold that its findings are supported by substantial evidence, we affirm.”
A historical record
Judge Michel no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.