Publications
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 […]
Abstract Patents on isolated genes are big business. In the past three decades, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued over 2500 patents claiming isolated DNA, and 40000 DNA-related patents in non-native form, for genes in the human genome. Thus in 2010, when a US district court judge found claims to isolated […]
The Connecticut Appellate Court issued a significant decision last year in L&V Contractors LLC v. Heritage Warranty Insurance Risk Retention Group Inc., 136 Conn. App. 662 (2012), wherein it concluded that “the doctrine of apparent authority cannot be used to hold a principal liable for the tortious actions of its alleged agent.” Following L&V, several […]
Alternatives to Franchisee Bankruptcy: Workouts, Compositions of Creditors, Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors, and Receiverships. Originally published in the Franchise Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 3, Winter 2014 © 2014 by the American Bar Association. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means […]
Commonly adopted technical standards promote efficiency and compatibility between products and components from different companies. For instance, the H.264 (MPEG-4) standard governs video compression. High-definition digital television, video cameras and Blu-ray players and recorders rely on H.264 to ensure interoperability. Often, technical standards are developed in the context of a collaboration of industry players within […]
Originally published in Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Newsletter, Fall 2013 ©2013 American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section.This article is adopted with permission from articles by the authors published this year in Volume 35 of the Insurance Litigation Reporter. One of the interesting insurance coverage cases resulting from […]
© 2013 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. Run a Google search […]
© 2014 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. Between suppliers and manufacturers, […]
Originally Published in the April 2014 Issue of TerraLex Connections Introduction United States courts famously provide for broad and permissive discovery. What’s less well known is that they also provide broad and permissive discovery in support of litigation that occurs outside the United States (U.S.). Foreign (non-U.S.) entities in fights with U.S. entities before a […]
I. Introduction “Monetization” of patents—i.e., making money from a patent or patent portfolio—has evolved from a model that relied solely on traditional direct licensing to include a diverse and exciting array of new modes that can be used to potentially profit from patent assets. Each patent monetization mode has certain advantages and disadvantages. Determining which […]
The Treasury Department recently issued final regulations under Code Section 4980H, which sets forth the shared responsibility (or “employer mandate”) provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The final rule contains few surprises, though it does delay application of the mandate for mid-size employers until the beginning of the 2016 plan year. Background The employer […]
In the midst of continuing and highly politicized Congressional inquiries into Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of political activities of Code §501(c)(4) tax-exempt social welfare organization, the Treasury Department has released a proposed regulation defining what constitutes “candidate-related political activity” and taking the position that the promotion of social welfare does not include this type of […]
© 2014 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. In 2013, reported data […]
Compensation packages for executives of tax-exempt organizations can raise private inurement issues and are also subject to tax regulations governing benefits, including nonqualified deferred compensation, that do not apply to taxable employers. It’s a thorny world out there. Tread carefully. Private InurementSection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code provides that a corporation, trust or association […]
Reproduced with permission from BNA’s Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal, 88 PTCJ 498, 6/13/14. Copyright ©2014 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. More frequently than ever before company executives, company inhouse counsel, as well as outside counsel are asking: What is a patent or patent portfolio worth? Recent years have seen the development of […]
Social media and other electronic forms of communication provide unprecedented opportunities to reach current and potential clients, enhance your reputation, and build your business. But as you venture into these waters, it is important to keep the attorney ethics rules in mind. The speed, informality, and potential for direct connection with clients or potential clients […]
What happens when neither party to an appeal supports the decision of the lower court or when the prevailing party abandons the position it successfully advanced below? In these circumstances, federal appellate courts often appoint independent amicus counsel to get the benefit of an adversarial process on appeal. This situation occured in June in a […]
Most dentists have heard HIPAA mentioned in dental school, during residency training, or in continuing education courses. Yet, unfortunately, not all dentists take HIPAA compliance seriously, relegating it to the bottom of their ever-expanding and never-completed to-do lists. This article briefly summarizes HIPAA's applicability to dentists practicing cosmetic orthodontics and explains why HIPAA compliance should […]
Wait! You, Too? Litigation Brought by Nonsignatories to Franchise Agreements. Originally published in the Franchise Law Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1, Summer 2014. © 2014 by the American Bar Association. 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 […]
This is the final part of our review article looking at the developments in the 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. Part […]
Those who have had the opportunity to attend a number of Judges Dinners probably have their favorite, although it is likely that we found each to have been enjoyable. Entertainment, of one form or another, has invariably played a role in contributing to this enjoyment over the years. Long before any of us can remember, […]
Under U.S. law, inventors may obtain a patent for “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof[.]” Since the Supreme Court’s 1980 decision in Diamond v. Chakrabarty (447 U.S. 303), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has expanded the types of patentable subject matter […]
With the honoring of Judge Barbara Jones at the 2013 Judges Dinner fresh in our minds, it may be useful to reflect on another judicial honoree of an earlier era in order to reinforce our awareness of our Association’s long-standing tradition of honoring judges. The honoree at the 1933 Judges Dinner was Hon. Arthur Carter […]
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), applicable large employers are required to offer affordable medical coverage to full-time employees and their dependent children, or pay a penalty for failure to do so. This requirement, sometimes called the employer mandate or pay or play, becomes effective for plan years beginning on and after January 1, 2014. […]
This past March, four former Pennsylvania governors drafted a letter urging the state legislature to amend the state’s constitution to replace partisan election of state Supreme Court judges with so-called “merit selection,” whereby a nonpartisan judicial nominating commission recommends a slate of qualified nominees, from which the governor makes an appointment. They argued that “if […]