Publications
Every attorney has an ethical duty of candor to the court. That duty stems not only from the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, but also from the attorney’s role as “an officer of the court” who, in Judge Benjamin Cardozo’s words, is therefore “like the court itself, an instrument or agency to advance the ends […]
Largely because of its class action feature, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has become increasingly popular with plaintiffs’ attorneys. Indeed, more than 150 class actions seeking damages under the FLSA have been filed over the last three years, and, between 2000 and 2003, the number of class actions swelled by 70 percent. Not surprisingly, […]
The need to periodically review, and update, the requirements for admission to the patent bar is readily apparent, particularly in this time of rapid technological change and case law evolution that effectively widens the swath of patentable subject matter. Accordingly, the time is now ripe for the United States Patent Office (herein “PTO” or “Patent […]
The feature piece for this issue of Infrastructure focuses on the developing law in the battle between the rights of artists to control their works and the ability of Internet users to access content. Litigation, including the Internet provider subpoena case discussed in the issue, will help frame the reach and scope of the 1998 […]
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. v. Campbell marks anew the constitutional limits on punitive damages. The six-Justice majority (Scalia, Thomas, and Ginsburg each dissented separately) reversed and remanded the Utah Supreme Court’s decision reinstating a $145 million punitive damage verdict,which the trial court had reduced to $25 million. […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that the public and the press have a First Amendment right of access to criminal proceedings, and that courts can restrict access only when there is a compelling governmental interest and the restriction is narrowly tailored to serve it. See, e.g., Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, […]
On March 7, 2005, The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC, Inc., to review whether a truck manufacturer’s offering of unequal price concessions to dealers engaged in bidding on different resale contracts constituted unlawful price discrimination in violation […]
The advent of Electronic Case Filing (“ECF”) in federal criminal cases is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, ECF has dramatically increased access to court documents and allows interested parties as well as the public to obtain information about a pending case in an efficient and expeditious manner. On the other hand, ECF, which […]
I’m pleased to continue as NYIPLA Historian at the behest of our new President, Marylee Jenkins. Our previous ?ve columns have focused on patent reform, and our Association’s role through the years in molding reform. This column will continue in that vein.
Connecticut’s Supreme Court has refused to recognize a claim for defamation based on an employee’s “self-publication” of a former employer’s allegedly defamatory explanation for a discharge decision.
On June 23, 2006, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously invalidated the SEC’s recent attempt to regulate hedge funds by requiring them to register as investment advisers. See Registration Under the Advisers Act of Certain Hedge Fund Advisers, 69 Fed. Reg. 72,054 (Dec. 10, 2004) […]
Before a company may site and construct a generating unit, transmission line or substation, it must comply with procedures established by overlapping elaborate regulatory schemes. It is natural to assume that after following the letter of the law (perhaps over a period of years) and proving that the project’s economic benefits outweigh its environmental impacts […]
In the 9th edition of the TerraLex Intellectual Property Newsletter, we discussed the consequences of improperly claiming small entity status as articulated by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Ulead Systems, Inc. v. Lex Computer Management Corp. (351 F.3d 1120 (Fed. Cir December 9, 2003)). We also noted that ambiguities in the […]
Business method patents have generated considerable public controversy in the last couple of years. This controversy has resulted from substantial coverage in the popular press of the grant of certain “high profile” business method patents, such as Amazon.com’s “one click” method patent. Congress, the Courts, and the Patent Office have each played a role in […]
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has issued a series of remarkable opinions in United States v. Stein – a case reported to involve the largest tax fraud prosecution ever brought by the United States Government. Judge Kaplan’s latest decision, the third in the series (“Stein III”), orders the dismissal of charges against thirteen defendants […]
Edward Wood Dunham is Editor-in-Chief of the Franchise Law Journal. This column expresses Mr. Dunham’s personal opinions and does not reflect the viewpoint of the ABA Forum on Franchising or the Franchise Law Journal. In the legendary director John Ford’s “last great film,”1 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, James Stewart plays Ransom Stoddard, a […]
Historically, the federal courts have been far from uniform in their views regarding the circumstances under which employers may be held liable for sexually harassing conduct committed by their supervisory personnel. In June of 1998, however, the United States Supreme Court issued two decisions, Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 and Burlington […]
If it’s true that an area of law can develop by fits and starts by truly momentous cases, or through a slow but steady accretion of sensible decisions, franchising’s development in 2002 was more the latter. Most of the reported decisions in 2002 were of the solid, common-sense type that a lawyer on either side […]
What should you do when a demand for a jury trial in a federal civil case is denied? Surprisingly, there is no simple answer to this question, and the standards governing appeals from denials of civil jury trials are the subject of a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to resolve. […]
Beginning with its landmark ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals,1 and continuing through Kuhmo Tire Co. v. Carmichael,2 the U.S. Supreme Court greatly expanded the obligation of federal district judges to act as gatekeepers to exclude speculative, unreliable expert testimony. This trend culminated in the December 2000 amendments to Rules 701 and 702 of […]
Copyright 2000, The National Law Journal Much attention has focused recently on proposed federal regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) containing, among other things, standards for security and privacy of patient-identifiable health information. By the end of this year, the final HIPAA regulations should be fully launched. These requirements, […]
Reprinted with permission from the Federal Circuit Bar Journal Volume 8, Number 3. Published in 1999. Introduction Prior to 1952, an inventorship error was a death sentence for an issued patent. Patents that failed to name the exact combination of persons responsible for inventing the claimed subject matter were deemed invalid as a matter of […]
Since the horrific events of September 11, I have felt enraged, scared, vengeful, emotionally exhausted. But mostly I have felt helpless. I am just a lawyer, an appellate lawyer at that. All I seem capable of is talking the talk and gnashing my teeth, neither of which seems particularly useful. Yet, as I pondered these […]
A longstanding issue in patent law concerns the adequacy of the teachings of an English abstract of a prior art document that is in a foreign language vis-à-vis the full teachings contained in the original document. Assuming that an abstract is by its very nature an inadequate instrument for reflecting the spectrum of teachings afforded […]
A quarter-century after one of our co-authors explored the need for, and value to society of, the best mode disclosure requirement in patent practice, the authors are now revisiting the subject. During the intervening years, there have been significant changes in how business is conducted, notably in favor of an increased volume of global business […]
As I write this Editor’s Note, record low temperatures have raised the specter of load shedding in New England. The Aug. 14, 2003 blackout in the Northeast was painful, but one shivers (literally and figuratively) at the consequences of a blackout in the winter. This issue features a compendium of the resources now available on […]
Where one manager terminates a Title VII claimant and another manager selects her replacement, a female plaintiff can meet the burden of establishing a prima facie case of sex discrimination even if her position was filled by another woman, so held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Miles v. Dell, Inc.
Opposition to electric transmission line projects designed to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure can come from a number of sources: the host municipality, adjacent municipalities, the state’s executive branch, the legislative branch, commercial entities, ad hoc or long-standing environmental groups, and/or organized citizen groups. The issues raised can require expertise in an array of thorny legal […]
Amidst his fascinating keynote presentation at our Association’s annual dinner meeting held this year at the University Club on May 21st, Professor Hugh Hansen issued a wake-up call to the gathered crowd.
Insurance companies are large businesses,accustomed to state licensing requirements and regulation and known to state regulators and federal authorities. For 35 years,neither the states nor the Federal Trade Commission have sought compliance by insurance companies with state franchise laws or the Federal Trade Commission Franchise Rule.