Samuel Kent's concerns about people wearing propellor hats

In 2002, Victoria Slind-Flor wrote in IP WorldWide: Judge Samuel Kent of the Eastern District of Texas is a bit more outspoken on the matter. A year ago he told The National Law Journal, IP Worldwide's sibling publication, that the Federal Circuit is full of "little green men who don't know Tuesday from Philadelphia." In a summary judgment hearing in a 1996 patent case, O.I. Corp. v. Tekmar Co., Kent said, "Frankly, I don't know why I'm so excited about trying to bring this [patent case] to closure. It goes to the Federal Circuit afterwards. You know, it's hard to deal with things that are ultimately resolved by people wearing propeller hats." (The propeller heads upheld him.) Judge Kent was not available to discuss his comments.

Now, one Judge Samuel Kent is in the news again. Where he may be going, concerns about people wearing propellor hats will be the least of his worries.

The Houston Chronicle noted, in Kent's defense:

"It's a classic case of a false accusation that cannot be corroborated, cannot be substantiated," Kent's attorney [Dick DeGuerin] said. "All of the evidence was carefully considered first by a special panel of the Fifth Circuit judicial (council) and then by the entire judicial (council) and they could not reach a unanimous agreement on whether or not the conduct took place."