CaliforniaRSS

  • October 22, 2008

    TPL Loses Bid To Toss Microprocessor Patent Suits

    Technology Properties Ltd. has lost its bid to throw out, transfer or stay three separate declaratory judgment actions filed against it by three consumer electronics companies over a group of patents covering different aspects of high-speed computer microprocessors.

  • October 21, 2008

    Capcom Prevails In Battle Of Flesh-Eating Zombies

    A copyright lawsuit filed by the producers of the 1978 zombie film “Dawn of the Dead” over Capcom Co. Ltd.'s 2006 zombie video game “Dead Rising” has been savagely torn limb from limb by a federal judge, who found that there are no substantial similarities between the two works.

  • October 21, 2008

    So Much For 'Orderly Dissolution' — Heller Sued

    Heller Ehrman LLP's plan for an “orderly dissolution” hit its first major legal snag Monday as three terminated employees filed a putative class action alleging the firm withheld pay and benefits required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act when it fired hundreds of workers in October.

  • October 23, 2008

    IP Practice: Dewey & LeBoeuf

    With an expanding number of ways to invalidate patents, applicants are forced to make tough decisions about the scope of their intellectual property, according to Barbara Caulfield, co-chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP’s IP litigation group and managing partner of the firm’s Silicon Valley office.

  • October 20, 2008

    AIG Halts Lobbying Against Mortgage Reforms

    Responding to the furor over ways American International Group Inc. is spending its $120 billion government loan, the beleaguered financial services giant reportedly vowed Monday to stop lobbying against stronger mortgage industry controls.

  • October 20, 2008

    Billable-Hour System Under Scrutiny From Clients

    With attorneys charging upward of $1,000 an hour for legal work despite the economic downturn, many clients are pushing to do away with the billable-hour system altogether.

  • October 20, 2008

    Northwest Pilots Get Class Cert. In ERISA Suit

    Northwest Airlines Inc. and many of its long-serving pilots will wrestle over the legality of the airline's retirement benefits plan in federal court, now that a judge has certified several classes of pilots challenging the plan on age discrimination grounds because it calls for greater payments to younger, more junior pilots.

  • October 20, 2008

    Calif. Supreme Court Takes Up County Strike Case

    The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving Sacramento County’s efforts to stop unionized county sanitation employees from striking in 2006.

  • October 21, 2008

    Wildlife Group Jumps Into Polar Bear Protection Suit

    Nonprofit group Defenders of Wildlife has won its bid to intervene in a lawsuit against two government agencies that alleges that oil development threatens the polar bear species, just two weeks after a partial settlement was brokered in the case.

  • October 20, 2008

    Adidas Sues Calif. Shoemakers Over Classic Stripes

    Adidas AG and its U.S. subsidiary fired off a lawsuit against several California footwear companies on Thursday, accusing them of infringing its “three stripe” trademark.

  • October 20, 2008

    Insurers Beat Indemnification Claims In High Court

    The Indiana Supreme Court has found in favor of insurance companies in a dispute over whether U.S. Filter Corp. and Waste Management Holdings Inc. are entitled to indemnification for product liability litigation arising from workers who alleged silica exposure.

  • October 20, 2008

    Liver Failure Suit Tackles Settlement Enforceability

    A federal judge is set to consider whether he has the power to enforce a proposed settlement that was later rejected by the mother of a child who developed liver failure after being prescribed generic ibuprofen to treat a minor medical procedure.

  • October 17, 2008

    St. Clair Digital Camera Suits To Move Forward

    A federal judge has agreed to lift stays in three lawsuits filed by patent-holding company St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants Inc. against nearly three dozen electronics companies over four patents dealing with methods by which digital cameras store images.

  • October 17, 2008

    Daewoo, Funai Face Off Over $7M VCR Patent Verdict

    Attorneys for Daewoo Electronics Corp. tried to convince a federal judge on Friday that the company should be granted a new trial after a jury found that it had willfully infringed three patents covering video cassette recorder technology held by Funai Electric Co. Ltd., which has accused its rival of continuing to offer offending items for sale on its Web site.

  • October 17, 2008

    Title Insurers Face Another Antitrust Class Action

    More than a dozen major U.S. title insurers have been hit with another putative class action, this time by Delaware consumers, alleging they set inflated rate prices in breach of federal antitrust laws.

  • October 20, 2008

    Morgan Stanley Seeks $50M Deal With Advisers

    Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and thousands of current and former employees are looking to put to rest a consolidated action and 10 purported class actions alleging the financial services firm misclassified its employees and improperly reduced their commissions.

  • October 17, 2008

    Pfizer To Settle Celebrex, Bextra Suits For $894M

    Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay $894 million to settle the bulk of product liability, consumer fraud and state attorney general lawsuits filed against it over anti-inflammatory drugs Celebrex and Bextra.

  • October 28, 2008

    Bank Tie-Ups Spur Debate Over Competition Impact

    The sudden shake-up of the banking industry amid one of the worst financial crises on record has left many to wonder how the rapid consolidation among the largest U.S. banks may affect competition in the long run.

  • October 16, 2008

    Caltech Sues Camera Giants Over Imaging Patents

    The California Institute of Technology has accused six companies including Panasonic Corp., Sony Electronics Inc. and Canon Inc. of selling cameras and camcorders that infringe several Caltech patents relating to imaging technology.

  • October 16, 2008

    Archway Hit With WARN Act Class Action

    A former worker for bankrupt Archway Cookies has filed a putative class action against the company, alleging Archway did not provide adequate warning before sudden layoffs earlier this month.