Hal Wegner sent out a note last week on success rates of appeals in the two most senior IP appellate courts in the United States. Pretty unappealing.

The data comes from Judge Paul R. Michel and clearly sends a message to would-be appellants about whether to trouble the courts with what might be said to be appeals with little merit.

The very low success rates reinforce the notion that the US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit – the CAFC, is in reality often the court of final appeal in the US. So, you’d better give it your best shot.

Here are the en banc CAFC success rates.

And here are the Supreme Court success rates: