Whether District Court judges should be required to consider the weakness of an infringement claim, after ruling in favor of the defendant on invalidity, where, as here, (i) the issue of non-infringement was fully briefed, (ii) claim construction, of the only disputed term, was performed by the judge in ruling on invalidity, and (iii) plaintiff misrepresented to the court both the need for claim construction, and the nature of the alleged infringement; and should Circuit Courts of Appeals give more scrutiny to District Court judges who use discretion without considering all relevant factors.

2. Whether the district court failed to fairly consider all relevant factors bearing on the issue of exceptionality.

3. Whether violating Fed. R. C. P. 7, in an apparent effort to hide the improper motive for bringing and sustaining a weak patent infringement case, should lead to a per se rule that a case is exceptional; alternatively, whether such a violation should have been considered as one of the factors in determining exceptionality.

Whether district courts should consider the weakness of an infringement claim after ruling in favor of the defendant on invalidity