Editor's Corner: On Relevance

• Date: 01 March 2014
• Author: Marisa Anne Pagnattaro
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12023

Editor’s Corner: On Relevance

This is my first issue as editor in chief, and I am pleased to present this

scholarship, which offers careful critical thinking about a range of legal

concerns. Looking ahead and thinking about the next fifty years of the

American Business Law Journal (ABLJ), I realize that it is impossible for me

to envision the range of legal issues that will inevitably arise in this rapidly

changing world. What I do know right now, though, is that the scholarship

in the ABLJ is meant to be read. We seek to publish content that is both

timely and important for our discipline. We carefully select our articles

using a blind screening and blind peer review process. The articles then

undergo multiple stages of review and editing by dedicated articles editors,

all of whom are tenured professors. We believe that this editorial process

is a valuable model and one that yields the highest levels of legal scholar-

ship. Ultimately, we strive for relevance. To this end, these authors offer

insights, reforms, and recommendations to address a variety of issues

affecting business and consumers.

The first two articles address the ambiguity arising in patent cases

involving more than one infringing party. In “Simplifying Multiactor

Patent Infringement Cases Through Proper Application of Common Law

Doctrine,” Lynda J. Oswald analyzes the complicated landscape of

multiactor patent infringement. A key case in her inquiry is Akamai Tech-

nologies v. Limelight Networks, Inc., a Federal Circuit case that articulated a

new standard for liability, creating a great deal of consternation and con-

fusion in the world of patent law.1Because of the complexity of both the

legal rules and the creative environment, Oswald advocates for “more

deliberate application of common law doctrines,” suggesting ways in which

the courts should address the nuances critical to articulate clear standards

1Just as this issue was going to press, the United States Supreme Court granted the petition

for certiorari in this case.

bs_bs_banner

v