As my former ALM colleague Ginny LaRoe pointed out many years ago, U.S. District Judge William Alsup is a courtroom scientist who especially enjoys making bold experiments in patent cases. On Monday I learned about his latest innovation.

Alsup calls it the shootout. He instructs the patentee to pick its strongest asserted claim and the accused infringer to pick the weakest. The judge then conducts summary judgment and trial—if necessary—on an expedited schedule. This was the procedure that led to Friday’s defense verdict for Juniper Networks in a cybersecurity dispute with Finjan.