Publications
On February 24, 2014, the Senate confirmed Jeffrey A. Meyer as the 37th U.S. District Judge appointed to serve the District of Connecticut. At his investiture, Judge Meyer commented on the judicial robes he had just donned. Not only is the robe itself emblematic of the neutrality and impartiality required in judges, but the various […]
John Doroghazi Joel Siegel ABA 37th Forum on Franchising
On April 1, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed most aspects of the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Tiffany v. eBay. Tiffany v. eBay is significant because it addresses whether the online auction site eBay may be liable under theories of […]
Who’s Who Legal brings together four of the leading practitioners in the world to discuss key issues facing franchise lawyers today.
© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. Use of Practical Law websites and services is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Practical Law Company services are now a Thomson Reuters Legal Solution.® An Article discussing the patent eligibility of software and computer-implemented business methods in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision […]
I. Introduction Discovery rules and procedures have evolved over the years to serve many functions in the dispute resolution process. The goal of discovery is to ensure that the parties have as much information as possible in order to effectively and efficiently develop claims and defenses.[1] Further, effective discovery is key to successful dispositive motions […]
The mission of the Janet D. Steiger Fellowship Project (“Steiger Fellowship Project”) is to provide law students with the opportunity to work in the consumer protection departments of state and territorial Offices of Attorneys General throughout the United States, as well as consumer protection agencies not affiliated with state attorneys general offices in Connecticut, Georgia […]
This is the very ecstasy of love, Whose violent property foredoes itself, And leads the will to desperate undertakings. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, II.i.99-101. On June 2, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Bond v. United States,[1] a case addressing a fundamental question of federalism: When it comes to federal prosecutions, when does […]
Commercial real estate presents unique opportunities and challenges to the estate planner. Several planning strategies are available to place the appreciation of, or the income generated by, real estate outside the transfer tax system. In addition, because commercial real estate transactions often occur on a fractional basis, valuation discounts may well apply to transfer tax […]
You just finalized the settlement terms of a sexual harassment claim comprised of fairly provocative allegations. The employee initially filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before suing in state court. The employer contested the material allegations, but is settling to avoid the costs, burdens and uncertainties of litigation and, in no small […]
On Dec. 10, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the convictions for insider trading of Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson. The decision – United States v. Newman and Chiasson1 – addressed the proof needed to establish insider trading liability of “remote tippees,” i.e., individuals who were part of a chain […]
It has now been two years since the America Invents Act created new procedures for third parties to challenge the validity of issued patents in a contested validity trial in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office before its Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Specifically, on Sept. 15, 2012, the AIA replaced inter partes re-examinations with […]
In the research, development and design of new products, an increasing number of startups are turning to “in-licensing” technology from universities and other institutions as a means of getting products to market quicker while reducing both risk and cost in the early stages of development. Rapid progress in product development also allows for financing opportunities […]
A step-by-step guide on the basics of forming a corporation under the Connecticut Business Corporation Act. Sample forms necessary to the process are also included.
Things did not go as Arab Bank had hoped. After 10 years of litigation and a five-week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn took only two days to reach its verdict: Jordan’s Arab Bank PLC is liable to the plaintiffs for providing material support in the form of financial services to Hamas, a U.S. State […]
In this day of market meltdowns, failed recalls, and foreign bribery scandals, it’s commonplace to hear calls for criminal prosecution of individuals who, in the public’s mind, should be held responsible for such calamities. These calls predictably prompt apologetic responses, in turn calling for new regulation, beefed-up federal resources, and harsher penalties. Possibly lost in […]
For years, courts and bar organizations have grappled with the decline in civility among lawyers. Courts increasingly have adopted explicit rules requiring civility and searched for effective ways to enforce those requirements. Civility is hardly a new concept in the profession. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct make it a violation to “engage in conduct […]
In a world that now relies on computers for everyday tasks, the area of software and computer-implemented inventions has become essential for innovation. However, it is difficult to define what falls within the scope of a patent-eligible computer-implemented invention under the current legal guidance. Indeed, even the appeals court dedicated to providing uniform standards on […]
On August 16, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) released its highly anticipated decision in Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, No. 2010-1406 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 16, 2012) (“Myriad IV“), concerning the patent eligibility of isolated DNA under 35 U.S.C. § 101, on remand from […]
A series of recent decisions indicates that courts are more rigidly enforcing standards for the reasonable royalty calculation of patent damages awards. In particular, recent Federal Circuit decisions (as well as a district court case with Judge Rader of the Federal Circuit sitting by designation) show that the use of prior licenses of either the […]
INTRODUCTION Almost every patent infringement complaint includes a boiler-plate notice- pleading-style charge of “willful infringement.”1 If proven, this charge can be the basis for an award of enhanced damages up to three times the actual damages, at the discretion of the trial court.2 However, in addition to the monetary risk that such a charge brings, […]
Originally published on the American Bar Association Commercial & Business Litigation Committee Website, October 31, 2014, © 2014 This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the […]
Franchisors be warned: the National Labor Relations Board is poised to expand its long-established joint employer standard, a change that would make it easier for unions to successfully argue that a joint employer relationship exists between a franchisee and franchisor, or between a staffing agency and the companies for which it provides employees. On May […]
Class actions claiming violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act create potentially crippling exposure for companies that, without prior express consent, use an auto-dialer or prerecorded or artificial voice message to contact customers by phone, or those that send faxes or text messages. With statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per violation, no statutory cap […]
On May 24, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the intellectual property licensing activities of the National Football League Properties (“NFLP”), the licensing arm of the National Football League, could constitute concerted action under § 1 of the Sherman Act. In so finding, the Supreme Court rejected the NFL’s argument that the NFLP is exempt […]
A little over one year ago, the America Invents Act implemented new methods for third parties to challenge the validity of issued patents by having a contested validity trial in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Specifically, the AIA replaced inter partes re-examinations with inter partes reviews (IPR) and added a new proceeding called the […]
On March 2, 2010, in Reed Elsevier Inc. v. Muchnick, No. 08-103, the U.S. Supreme Court held that failure to have a federal copyright registration for the underlying work in a copyright infringement lawsuit is not a jurisdictional defect and therefore does not preclude courts from having subject matter jurisdiction over the copyright claim. This […]
In the first part of this article, available here, we reviewed the background concerning the filing of multidefendant patent litigations and provided an overview of the judicial and legislative approaches to addressing this issue, with a focus on new 35 U.S.C. § 299, also known as the “disjoinder” provision of the America Invents Act. Below, […]
This article reviews the impact of the America Invents Act’s “disjoinder” provision on multidefendant patent litigation in the year since its enactment. The article is divided into two parts. This first part provides background regarding the issue of multidefendant patent litigation as well as an overview of the judicial and legislative approaches to addressing this […]
Guest Post By Michael J. Kasdan and Joseph Casino In our March 3, 2010 article in the Patently-O Law Journal, Federal Courts Closely Scrutinizing and Slashing Damages Awards, we discussed recent shifts in the Federal Circuit’s reasonable royalty jurisprudence and concluded that the recent Cornell, Lucent, and Lansa cases “indicate an emerging trend to more […]