By Dani Kass

Law360 (April 21, 2020, 5:02 PM EDT) -- The Federal Circuit on Tuesday said it will be holding all of its May oral arguments over the phone, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement marks the second month that the court has switched to remote oral arguments, citing "the continued public health restrictions and limits on public access to the courthouse." Overall, 26 arguments will be heard over the phone, and another 43 decided on the briefs, according to the court's calendar.

The clerk's office will be contacting attorneys set to argue with more information, which last month included an orientation session on how the arguments would proceed and what to do if things went wrong.

Attorneys who argued remotely in April, a first for the circuit, largely said the process went smoothly from a technology standpoint, but were still frustrated at not being able to see the judges and read their body language.

As in April, the Federal Circuit will allow the public to listen in on the oral arguments.

The news came a day after the European Patent Office made a push to go digital, although not explicitly tied to the pandemic.

The agency said Monday that it would be launching a pilot program to have oral proceedings in its opposition divisions — where patents are challenged — over video. The program will run until April 30, 2021. 

The agency said it has allowed video examinations since 1998, and that it's experimenting with expanding them to other divisions.

The EPO noted that it will not hold video proceedings if the proceedings require the "taking of evidence by hearing witnesses, parties or experts or by inspection, or if there are other serious reasons for not doing," and that the parties and the court must all consent to the remote hearing.

--Editing by Alanna Weissman.

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