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December 9, 2013
Quinn Emanuel Fights Sanctions Bid In Apple-Samsung War
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP on Monday urged a California federal judge not to sanction it for leaking confidential details of a patent license between Apple Inc. and Nokia Corp., arguing that its leak in the high-stakes smartphone patent litigation between Apple and Quinn client Samsung Electronics Co. had been inadvertent.
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December 9, 2013
Google Data Privacy Ruling Widens ECPA Divide
A California federal judge last week disagreed with a colleague in concluding that Google Inc.'s aggregation of user data across its platforms did not fall under an exemption to federal wiretap law, exemplifying the struggles courts are having when it comes to applying the outdated statute to modern communications, attorneys say.
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December 9, 2013
Google, Others Ramp Up Push For Global Spying Reforms
Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and five other technology giants on Monday stepped up efforts to limit government access to users' data by banding together to push U.S. officials to enact reforms that would rein in recently exposed surveillance activities.
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December 9, 2013
AOL Dodges Senior Dial-Up Payments Suit
A California federal judge on Monday dismissed a proposed class action accusing AOL Inc. of improperly continuing to charge customers for its dial-up Internet service after they had switched to broadband, after AOL uncovered evidence the plaintiff knew about the charges, the company’s attorney said.
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December 9, 2013
Apple's 'Hail Mary' Falls Short In E-Book Suit, States Say
The attorneys general of more than 30 states on Friday shot back at Apple Inc.'s bid to dismiss their case seeking damages for the company's alleged conspiracy with publishers to fix e-book prices, calling it a "Hail Mary" attempt to avoid accountability.
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December 9, 2013
Verizon Nabs EdgeCast To Boost Video, Web Capabilities
New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. said Monday that it will acquire content delivery services company EdgeCast Networks, in a deal designed to help Verizon strengthen its video delivery and Web services capabilities.
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December 9, 2013
TPG Telecom Drops $407M To Boost Broadband Infrastructure
TPG Telecom Inc. will buy Telecom New Zealand Ltd.'s Australia Pty Ltd. and its subsidiaries for AU$450 million ($407 million) in an all-cash, no-debt transaction in an effort to strengthen its standing in Australia's mobile industry, TPG said Monday.
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December 9, 2013
Biz Groups Push China To Renew WTO Tech Talks
More than 40 international business associations recently urged the Chinese government to return with a more ambitious approach to negotiations intended to reduce tariffs on technology products, after talks among dozens of World Trade Organization countries reached an impasse last month.
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December 9, 2013
Technology MVP: Wiley Rein's Nancy Victory
Wiley Rein LLP partner Nancy J. Victory served as top regulatory counsel on some of the biggest telecommunications deals of 2013, including the $1.5 billion merger of Deutsche Telekom AG subsidiary T-Mobile USA Inc. with MetroPCS Communications Inc., earning her a spot on the list of Law360's 2013 Technology MVPs.
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December 9, 2013
Aussie Watchdog Says Kids' Game Apps Need Clearer Fee Info
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said Monday that a recent study of over 340 Google Inc. and Apple Inc. app games show that many of the children-oriented games do not adequately disclose the costs associated with them.
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December 9, 2013
Justices Nix Fed. Circ. Venue Ruling In Broadcom Patent Row
In a win for Broadcom Corp., the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated and remanded a Federal Circuit decision that refused to enforce a forum-selection clause in a patent suit, citing its decision in a similar case to grant priority to forum selection agreements in venue disputes.
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December 9, 2013
HP, Seagate Dodge Supreme Court Fight Over Hard Drive IP
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand rulings axing a trade secret theft claim involving hard disk drive technology brought by engineering firm Convolve Inc. against units of Seagate Technology (US) Holdings Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., rebuffing Convolve's constitutional arguments.
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December 9, 2013
Hitachi Reaches $13.4M Deal In Cathode Ray Price-Fixing MDL
Hitachi Ltd. reached a $13.4 million settlement with a group of direct purchasers of its cathode ray tubes, who accused the manufacturer of involvement in an international conspiracy with competitors to fix the devices' prices, according to a motion Friday seeking a California federal judge's approval of the accord.
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December 9, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Occidental, KKR, Freedom Group
Occidental Petroleum is eyeing a consortium of three state-owned companies as a potential buyer for a $10 billion stake in its MENA business, while Cerberus might finally have a plan to unload at least part of gun manufacturer Freedom Group about a year after critics first pressed the firm to get rid of its holding.
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December 6, 2013
Ex-Vitesse Execs Get Probation For Data Tampering
A New York federal court on Friday sentenced two former Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. executives to three years’ probation after they pled guilty to manipulating company records to thwart an expected stock-options backdating investigation by federal authorities.
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December 6, 2013
High Court To Ease Software IP Confusion In Alice Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider when software innovations are eligible for patents in a closely watched case between Alice Corp. and CLS Bank International, a move hailed by attorneys who say they’ve been left in the dark on the proper eligibility standard for computer-related software following a deeply divided decision by the Federal Circuit.
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December 6, 2013
$95M E-Book Price-Fixing Settlements Get Final Approval
A New York federal judge gave final approval on Friday to $95 million in settlements between a group of book publishers, the federal government and a proposed consumer class to resolve e-book price-fixing claims.
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December 6, 2013
Technology MVP: Davis Polk's Alan Denenberg
A body of work over the past year involving several multibillion-dollar technology deals and debt offerings, as well as the highly anticipated Twitter Inc. initial public offering, have earned Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP’s Alan Denenberg a spot on Law360’s list of Technology MVPs.
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December 6, 2013
Federal Privacy Board Looking To Hire Atty Advisers
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Thursday put out a call for attorneys to assist the newly revived board on cutting-edge issues that accompany its task of providing a check on the government's surveillance and counterterrorism efforts.
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December 6, 2013
Samsung Owes $15.7M In Attorneys' Fees, Apple Says
Samsung Electronics Corp. should pay Apple Inc. $15.7 million in attorneys' fees following Apple's $930 million victory in two patent infringement and damages trials between the smartphone rivals, the company argued in a motion Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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FTC's Android App Suit Is An Important Section 5 Case
The Federal Trade Commission's recent Goldenshores Technologies LLC case is a signal to industry that material facts, especially those involving sensitive data, and especially where the facts involve collection, use or disclosure of data that is out of context of the use of the service, must be disclosed not only in a privacy policy, but also outside the privacy policy, say Reed Freeman and Adam Fleisher of Morrison & Foerster LLP.
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How FRCP E-Discovery Amendments Could Affect You
In light of the proposed e-discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, businesses need to set themselves up to efficiently respond to discovery and requests for information from their counsel by implementing and following document-control policies as part of normal business practices. The failure to do so will eventually consume vast amounts of employee time, say Steven Cvitanovic and Colin Murphy of Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP.
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5 Key Provisions In The Innovation Act
On Dec. 5, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Innovation Act, which would modify patent law to make it harder for so-called patent trolls to perpetrate litigation abuses. There is parallel legislation in the Senate, but it is more limited and arguably directed to the worst patent-litigation abuses, say Jeffrey Lesovitz and Daniel Goettle of Woodcock Washburn LLP.
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Health Care Tech: A Year-End Review
The statutory and regulatory framework, marketplace, infrastructure and use of health information technology has grown and changed exponentially during the 2013 calendar year — but not without practical and legal challenges ranging from Affordable Care Act implementation to fraud and data protection concerns, say Sidney Welch and Cindy Acosta at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP.
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State AGs And Online Privacy: Trends We Saw In 2013
State attorneys general gave online privacy protection increasing attention in 2013. There was mounting pressure from attorneys general to expand privacy protections, a rising number of enforcement actions and increased coordination among states, says Jason Crawford, a federal law clerk.
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Thoughts On DOD Rules For Cybersecurity, Supply Chain Risk
Given the dim prospects for enactment of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation in the current political environment, the U.S. Department of Defense's new requirements for contractors are an important part of the Obama administration’s efforts to use the government’s procurement power and existing regulatory authorities to increase the cybersecurity of the companies on which the U.S. government relies, say attorneys with Arnold & Porter LLP.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: Too Hot Or Cold For An MDL?
What is the thinking as to whether leaky air conditioner cases warrant multidistrict litigation treatment? On Dec. 5, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation heads to Vegas to find out. This will bring a temperature shift in more ways than one from the September hearing, where the panel considered a potential MDL proceeding arising from allegedly defective clothes dryers, says Alan Rothman of Kaye Scholer LLP.
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Fed. Circ. Should Clarify Irreparable Harm In Patent Cases
In Broadcom v. Emulex, the Federal Circuit hewed closely to its old bias in favor of injunctions. Its facile reasoning bodes well for patentees in future cases, but departs from its recent, less plaintiff-friendly decisions establishing a “causal nexus” requirement in the battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Failure by one panel to follow the holding of another panel of the same court is error, say attorneys with Day Pitney LLP.
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Calif. Case Limits Health Care Data Breach Claims
A recent California appeals court decision provides a benchmark for plaintiffs to plead and prove claims under the California Medical Information Act that is consistent with prior nonhealth-care decisions. Plaintiffs must do more than plead mere loss of data, say attorneys with Morrison & Foerster LLP.
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Mild Modifications To The R&D Tax Credit
Although the bones of the R&D tax credit have not changed substantially over time, there have been small revisions legislatively and further clarification provided by court rulings. The latest extension of the credit — in effect until Dec. 31, 2013 — includes changes around the rules for taxpayers under common control and rules for computing the credit when a portion of a trade or business changes hands, says Jacqueline Lee, tax director at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP.