This issue of Intellectual Property Litigation is devoted to a discussion of the practice of IP litigation in the current environment. This is a worthy subject for our publication, and I expect to read many interesting things from the other authors contributing to this issue. Our focus on the current environment for IP litigation suggests that there are challenges now in our field that are new and different than those that existed before. Of course, that is true. In fact, there are many examples. But change is only part of the story. I want to write too about what remains the same.
My desire is not to minimize the significance of the changes that we have seen in our practice area. They affect our lives every day in ways that are fundamental. The biggest changes have occurred in two areas: (1) the substance of patent law and (2) the commercial side of law. If I may generalize, the changes in the substance of patent law have been mostly beneficial. On the other hand, the changes on the commercial side mostly have not.