CAFC Proposes Electronic Filing

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has proposed to amend its rules to require the filing of a digital version of every brief and appendix filed by a party represented by counsel, unless counsel certifies that submission of a brief or appendix in digital format is not practical or would constitute hardship. The requirements for the filing of paper copies of the briefs and appendices would continue unchanged. Comments must be received by the close of business on February 16, 2007.

Among other things, the new rules require that a digital version of each brief and appendix required under this rule must be furnished to the court no later than five business days after the paper version is filed. The digital versions must be furnished to the court over the Internet following the detailed instructions appearing on the court's web page.The paper version shall be considered the "official" version for purposes of compliance with the rules.

On the quirky side, the new rules require each party submitting a digital version to certify that the document has been scanned for viruses and that no virus has been detected. It is encouraged, but not required, that the PDF documents be saved with commenting enabled. Only if an original word processing file or redacted copy thereof is not available may a scanned PDF image be included in a digital version of a filed brief or appendix.