Just read this article on patent infringement against HTC by Apple, but I'm wondering why our system is complicated where we have two different divisions interfering with lawsuits about intellectual property? What if they each came with a different conclusion? What then? WHAT IS THE US INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION AND WHY IS IT DECIDING PATENT INFRINGEMENT CASES?
First, two courts should almost never be hearing the same dispute at the same time. If they did, usually a district court would decide to suspend or terminate proceedings, though there are complications that can arise in that. Different judges and courts decide the law differently all the time. What happens is that the courts of appeal usually decide what the law is when there is a conflict. BUT, there is more than one court of appeals, and those courts can reach different decisions. In those cases the law will be different depending on where the original case was filed. If you file a case in the DC Circuit, the decisions of the Federal Circuit are binding. If you file in California, the decisions of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are binding. That means that a smart plaintiff's lawyer will file in a court that uses the law most favorable to his client, if that court has jurisdiction. The Defendant's lawyer might then try to have the venue changed to a court in another judicial district with more favorable laws (which plaintiff's counsel will oppose). The federal courts have various rules for whether a court can take jurisdiction in the first place ad when the forum of the trial should be moved, all of which lawyers will argue over. If the appellate courts do come to different conclusions, though, the U.S. Supreme Court can decide to take up a case and weigh in. Their decision binds all the courts and judges, everywhere in the country. They only take about 150 cases a year, tops though, and a number of teh cases they take do not have divided opinions in the lower courts for teh Justices to resolve. So most disagreements among the appellate courts are not decided this way.
