IPO ANNUAL MEETING TOPICS ANNOUNCED
IPO’s Annual Meeting will take place in Toronto, Canada from September 27-29, 2026, and will feature 30 education sessions covering patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets, AI, corporate IP management, and more. For a full list of topics, visit the website and select “Program” on the navigation menu. This must-attend event brings together IP professionals from corporations, law firms, government, academia, and service providers from around the world to discuss strategies, trends, and best practices.
TECHNICAL ADVISORS & SPECIAL MASTERS: HOW SPECIAL MASTERS HELP JUDGES
By Joshua J. Yi, The Law Office of Joshua J. Yi, PLLC; and Nancy M. Olson, Olson Stein LLP
In this month’s column, we’ll peek behind the curtain to learn how special masters and technical advisors assist judges. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 53(a)(1)(C), judges may appoint a special master to “address pretrial and posttrial matters that cannot be effectively and timely addressed by an available district judge or magistrate judge.” Given the broad scope of the rule, such assistance may range from providing technology tutorials for the judge to conducting proceedings and writing reports and recommendations to overseeing complicated discovery. In short, the special master functions like a magistrate judge.
A special master often interacts with the parties and drafts work product for the court’s review (either in the form of a report and recommendation or a draft order the court may adopt). By applying his or her expertise to the issues presented, the special master can help the court streamline complicated issues that may otherwise swallow the court’s time without the aid of such specialized assistance. This assistance frees up the judge to afford appropriate time to all matters on the docket.
By contrast, judges appoint technical advisors pursuant to the court’s inherent authority to, e.g., “aid in understanding the complex technology underlying the patent.” Another difference is that a technical advisor functions more like a law clerk who assists the judge behind the scenes and does not interact with the parties.
Join us next month to consider whether hiring a law clerk with a technical background is a good substitute for employing a special master or technical advisor, with some special insight from the bench.