In one of the most highly watched IP cases that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this term, the justices will examine the validity of patents covering personalized medicine.

In the term just ended, the Supreme Court issued 28 CVSGs — calls for the views of the solicitor general — and in the term before that, it asked for 29. Both numbers are significantly higher than usual. So why have those calls come more often lately?

Anthony Brown, who inspired the term “patent troll,” has founded a new “non-practicing entity” called Cascades Ventures, and two of its subsidiaries have already sued Exxon Mobil, Samsung and others for allegedly infringing patents that Cascades began licensing earlier this year.

Former Luzerne County, Pa., Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.

A Virginia law school professor told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the method that senators are considering to extend the term of FBI Director Robert Mueller III could invite litigation.