WIPR survey: Readers split over Gorsuch’s Supreme Court associate justice confirmation

WIPR recently asked whether Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation as a US Supreme Court associate justice is good for IP, but it seems that our readers are split.

Of those surveyed, 50% said Gorsuch’s appointment to take up the vacant ninth position at the Supreme Court is good news, while the other half disagreed.

One reader explained that it was good news for the rule of law in the US, while another claimed more critically that the confirmation was not “good news for anything”.

In May 2006, Gorsuch was nominated by former president George W Bush to take up a position at the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

US President Donald Trump nominated Gorsuch to take up the Supreme Court position in January this year.

Another reader in favour of the appointment said: “Gorsuch is a proponent of originalism, the idea that the constitution should be interpreted as perceived at the time of enactment, and of textualism, the idea that statutes should be interpreted literally without considering the legislative history and underlying purpose of the law.”

One reader criticised his views related to IP as “restrictive and out of touch”.

The judge has some experience in the IP world. According to the Law Theories blog, Gorsuch has decided seven trademark, four copyright and three trade secret cases.

In 2008, he handed down a mixed ruling in Meshwerks v Toyota Motor Sales USA, a copyright infringement case centring on digital wire frames in Toyota’s vehicles.

For this week’s survey question we ask: “Last week, the UK Supreme Court refused to allow an appeal from the tobacco industry, in a final domestic decision on plain packaging.  Is the IP sector fighting a losing battle against standardised packaging?”

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