Federal Courts Draw the Line: Federal Circuit’s EcoFactor Joins Growing Push Against Unreliable Experts
publication | July 16, 2025
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently issued a highly anticipated en banc decision in the patent case EcoFactor Inc. v. Google LLC. As Eric Lasker and Katherine Nolan explain, in addition to its substantive importance for patent litigation, EcoFactor is noteworthy in that it is one of only a handful of federal circuit court opinions to date to address the impact of the recent amendments to FRE 702. The message from EcoFactor is clear: Under the amended Rule 702, the prior judicial tendency to “let the jury sort it out” on matters of expert reliability will no longer be tolerated.