Barnes & Thornburg

1. Lilly Takes Aim At Synthon Over Adcirca ANDA

Thursday, Mar 18, 2010

Eli Lilly & Co. has filed a patent infringement suit against Synthon Pharmaceuticals Inc. over its attempt to introduce a generic version of hypertension drug Adcirca.

2. 9th Circ. Tosses Taser Wrongful Death Suit

Thursday, Mar 18, 2010

A federal appeals court has denied a bid by the family of a man who died after police stunned him with a Taser to revive strict liability claims against Taser International Inc. and wrongful death and negligence claims against Nevada police.

3. Class Certification Denied In Rolls-Royce Sex Bias Suit

Thursday, Mar 18, 2010

A putative pay discrimination class action against Rolls-Royce Corp. has run out of gas, now that a federal judge has rejected a request to certify a class that could have included more than 500 women.

4. Report Tying Pesticide To Cancer Nixed In Dow Case

Monday, Mar 15, 2010

A federal judge has granted Dow AgroSciences LLC's bid to exclude a pathologist's expert report for a Pennsylvania exterminator who claims the company's Dursban insecticide products gave him Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

5. Lateral Market Stays Hot As Winter Wears On

Monday, Mar 01, 2010

Lateral movement in the legal industry continued to rise in February, with Allen & Overy LLP picking up more than a dozen partners from Clayton Utz, and Latham & Watkins LLP and Haynes and Boone LLP also showing significant gains.

6. Avoiding The Hidden Franchise

Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010

As a general maxim, license drafters should understand that the best way to guard against the hidden franchise is to inform the client that fees of any sort, other than royalties, are forbidden and to draft agreements accordingly, says Felicia J. Boyd of Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

7. Shrewd Firms Reaped Profits In Downturn

Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010

As law firms begin disclosing their financial numbers for 2009, experts say the industry winners grasped the scope of the economic slump early on, while the losers dragged their feet before implementing necessary changes.

8. Lincoln Annuity Patent Spat Will Wait For Bilski

Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010

A judge has stayed Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Co.'s summary judgment bid in Lincoln National Life Insurance Co.'s patent enforcement action over a computerized system for administering retirement benefits, accepting Lincoln's argument that the court should put off any decision until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the Bilski case.

9. Barnes & Thornburg Amps Up Its Atlanta Office

Thursday, Feb 11, 2010

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added five attorneys to its Atlanta office, including energy specialists William P. Ewing and Michael A. Lueder, who both joined the firm's business department as partners from Marshall & Lueder LLC.

10. Contractor's Dust-Control Patents Nixed Over Conduct

Thursday, Jan 21, 2010

A federal judge has ruled that three dust-control patents Texas construction contractor CCC Group Inc. asserted against Martin Engineering Co. are unenforceable for inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

11. Judge Picks Merck's Discovery Plan In NuvaRing MDL

Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010

Rather than limit discovery to a pool of bellwether cases in the NuvaRing multidistrict litigation, a federal judge has backed Merck & Co.’s request for full discovery in dozens of lawsuits alleging Merck downplayed the health risks of the contraceptive.

12. Merck Discovery Bid Mooted In NuvaRing MDL

Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010

Nearing a selection of the bellwether trials in the NuvaRing multidistrict litigation, a federal judge has sketched out a discovery schedule and denied as moot Merck & Co.'s bid to compel the plaintiffs to provide information about their use of the NuvaRing contraceptive and its alleged dangers.

13. A Tale Of Two Microsoft Cases

Tuesday, Jan 05, 2010

The Federal Circuit rulings in Lucent Tech. Inc. v. Gateway Inc. and i4i LP v. Microsoft Corp. provide patent (or any) litigators with a clear lesson: Always make a motion for judgment as a matter of law under Fed. R. Civ. P. 50 on all major issues, unless there is an unbelievably compelling reason not to do so, says Lynn C. Tyler of Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

14. IP Lawyers' Wish List For 2010

Friday, Jan 01, 2010

If they had their way, intellectual property attorneys would have the federal courts and Congress adopt a standard for how to apportion damages in patent infringement cases, raise the bar for inequitable conduct findings and stop the exodus of patent examiners from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

15. NuvaRing Judge Scolds Defense Over Slew Of Motions

Monday, Dec 14, 2009

Fed up with a deluge of motions by Organon International Inc., the federal judge in charge of multidistrict product liability litigation over the drugmaker's contraceptive NuvaRing has dismissed hundreds of the filings and warned that any similar motions will also be denied.

16. Ind. Teachers Withdraw Appeal Of MetLife Dismissal

Monday, Dec 14, 2009

A group of Indiana teachers has withdrawn its motion to appeal a dismissal of a suit claiming Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. conspired with a subsidiary of the Indiana State Teachers Association to rig retirement options in the insurer's favor.

17. Texas High Court Dumps $14M Whirlpool Fire Verdict

Friday, Dec 11, 2009

The Texas Supreme Court has overturned a jury verdict that awarded $14 million to the family of a teenager who was killed in a fire they claimed started in a dryer manufactured by Whirlpool Corp.

18. Barnes & Thornburg Brings Bankruptcy Pro To Atlanta

Wednesday, Dec 09, 2009

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added its first bankruptcy practitioner to its Atlanta office, luring a partner away from Kilpatrick Stockton LLP.

19. Law360 Ranks Largest IP Practices

Friday, Dec 04, 2009

Finnegan Henderson LLP, Fish & Richardson and Morrison & Foerster LLP topped the Law360 IP 100 this year, boasting the largest intellectual property practices in the United States, as measured by the number of practicing lawyers.

20. Law360 Ranks Largest Employment Practices

Friday, Dec 04, 2009

Littler Mendelson PC, Jackson Lewis LLP and Ogletree Deakins PC topped the Law360 Employment 100 this year, boasting the largest employment practices in the United States, measured by the number of practicing lawyers.