Yesterday, Larry Ribstein offered a fascinating analysis of numerous of Judge Samuel Alito’s opinions in business law cases. Dave Hoffman, from his new berth at Concurring Opinions, has already followed up with some additional analysis of one of the securities cases Larry describes.
Intrigued by Larry’s method, I searched for Judge Alito’s opinions in intellectual property cases. I found only one case, with two opinions … one in 2001 and one in 2004 … where Judge Alito tackled an interesting i.p. question head-on. The dispute involved the copyrightability of a parts numbering system for screw fasteners. Judge Alito, writing for an en banc court in December 2004, concluded that the numbering system was not eligible for copyright protection. I’ll post a full analysis later today. The cites for the cases are: Southco, Inc. v. Kanebridge Corp., 258 F.3d 148 (3d Cir. 2001); and Southco, Inc. v. Kanebridge Corp., 390 F.3d 276 (3d Cir. 2004) (en banc).
UPDATE: William Patry has beat me to it! Read his analysis of Southco here.
UPDATE 2: Laura Quilter also offers interesting analysis of Judge Alito’s court opinions in copyright, cyberlaw, and First Amendment cases here.