Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Technology
-
June 18, 2013
Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Patent Suit Over Nintendo's Wii Fit
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of IA Labs CA LLC’s infringement suit alleging Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii Fit video game and its accompanying balance board ripped off one of its patents.
-
June 18, 2013
Global Privacy Watchdogs Press Google Over Glass Privacy
A coalition of three dozen data protection authorities from the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico on Thursday pushed Google Inc. to explain what steps it has taken to ensure that its upcoming hands-free wearable computer, Google Glass, complies with their privacy laws.
-
June 18, 2013
Icahn Calls For $15.6B Stock Buyback In Dell Buyout Fight
Carl Icahn on Tuesday offered the latest version of his alternative to Dell Inc.’s $24.4 billion go-private deal, demanding the company buy back $15.6 billion in shares and digging in a month before a decisive shareholder vote.
-
June 18, 2013
Ex-TigerDirect Prez Charged In $230M Kickback Scheme
The former president of consumer electronics seller TigerDirect Inc. has been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly steering $230 million into companies that paid him bribes and kickbacks, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday in New York federal court.
-
June 18, 2013
Mexico's Maxcom Mulls Prepackaged Ch.11 With Creditors
Mexico's Maxcom Telecomunicaciones SAB said Tuesday it's eyeing a prepackaged Chapter 11 in the U.S. as a possible key to new capital and reorganization, following a private equity firm's failed takeover and news that Maxcom will delay paying $11 million in interest on outstanding senior debt.
-
June 18, 2013
2nd Circ. Asked To Revive $1B Microsoft Antitrust Suit
Computer-sharing software maker MiniFrame Ltd. on Friday urged the Second Circuit to reinstate a $1 billion antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp., saying that changes to licensing rules for Windows operating systems harmed competition in the market for computer-sharing software.
-
June 18, 2013
SAP Asks Fed. Circ. To Stay $391M Award In Versata IP Row
SAP America Inc. on Monday urged the Federal Circuit to stay an injunction and a $391 million damages award the court ordered SAP to pay for infringing Versata Software Inc.'s patent on pricing methods after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidated the patent in its first-ever decision in a patent challenge under the America Invents Act.
-
June 18, 2013
Mintz Levin Adds Former ITC Atty To IP Group In Washington
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC has snapped up a former U.S. International Trade Commission investigative attorney for its intellectual property group in Washington, D.C., the firm said Monday.
-
June 18, 2013
Sharp Targets Philips Over Alleged CRT Price-Fixing
Sharp Corp. on Monday lodged allegations in California federal court that Koninklijke Philips NV took part in a price-fixing scheme along with other makers of cathode ray tubes, claims similar to those leveled against CRT companies in a broader multidistrict litigation.
-
June 18, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Johnson Controls, Verizon, Apollo
Johnson Controls is hoping for billion-dollar private equity offers for its automotive electronics unit after expanding its scope beyond strategic suitors, while wireless behemoth Verizon is mulling an expansion northward through the acquisition of Canada's Wind Mobile.
-
June 18, 2013
Liberty Stages $10B Kabel Deutschland Bid War With Vodafone
Kabel Deutschland Holding AG confirmed late Monday that it received a preliminary buyout bid from international cable operator Liberty Global PLC, a move that could trigger a bid war between Liberty and British mobile giant Vodafone Group PLC over the $10 billion company.
-
June 17, 2013
Texas Gov. Approves Country's Toughest Email Privacy Law
Establishing the strongest email privacy protections in the U.S., Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill Friday that restricts when law enforcement agencies can access electronic communications by requiring warrants for all emails held by service providers.
-
June 17, 2013
Lowenstein Lands Competition Pro To Lead Antitrust Group
Lowenstein Sandler PC's New York office has landed a former Crowell & Moring LLC competition specialist to chair its antitrust and trade regulation practice and join its technology group, the firm announced Monday.
-
June 17, 2013
Sprint Sues Dish To Block Clearwire Takeover
Sprint Nextel Corp. sued Dish Network Corp. and Clearwire Corp. on Monday in Delaware court, claiming Dish's proposed takeover of Clearwire breaks an investor agreement and is designed to coerce unknowing minority stockholders into ceding their shares.
-
June 17, 2013
Rambus Inks License Deal With STMicroelectronics
Technology company Rambus Inc. and global semiconductor producer STMicroelectronics NV signed an agreement that expands existing licenses between them and settles litigation over Rambus patents and other outstanding claims, the companies announced Monday.
-
June 17, 2013
NM Gov.'s Ex-Staffer Pleads Not Guilty To Hijacking Emails
A former campaign manager for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez pled not guilty Monday in New Mexico federal court to criminal charges that he illegally took over her campaign's Internet domain and used his access to forward her emails to his Gmail account.
-
June 17, 2013
Texas Business Tax Cuts Target High Tech, Clean Energy
Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed off on legislation Friday that could bring nearly $1 billion in business tax relief by creating a revenue exemptions to the state’s margin tax and incentives for clean energy projects and high tech companies.
-
June 17, 2013
Jury Awards $8.1M To Grant Street In Auction Patent Row
A Pennsylvania federal jury on Monday found that Realauction.com LLC willfully infringed on a patent held by online auctioneer Grant Street Group Inc. for an 11-month period and awarded Grant Street Group $8.1 million in damages.
-
June 17, 2013
EA Lied To 'Madden NFL' Programmer About IP, Jury Hears
Original “Madden NFL” programmer Robin Antonick only realized in 2009 that Electronic Arts Inc. used his ideas in later versions of the multibillion-dollar video game franchise, his attorneys told a California federal jury Monday during opening statements for a trial over whether Antonick sued in time to recover millions in royalties.
-
June 17, 2013
ITC Hands Win To Nokia In HTC Patent Infringement Case
The U.S. International Trade Commission has rejected HTC Corp.’s so-called exhaustion defense against Nokia Corp.’s lawsuit accusing the Taiwanese company of importing mobile phones and tablet computers that infringe Nokia patents, according to an order unsealed Friday.
Expert Analysis
-
UK Joint Ventures: Sanctions And Corruption Risks
What should be at the forefront of the mind of any in-house counsel or compliance officer whose company operates in joint ventures is section 7 of the U.K. Bribery Act, which holds that an organization does not even need to be aware of corrupt conduct in order to be guilty of an offense, say attorneys with Dechert LLP.
-
CLS Bank Ruling Won't Have Much Impact On Practitioners
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in CLS Bank Int’l v. Alice Corp. does not help clear things up on the issue of subject matter eligibility, but it doesn't obfuscate things any further either. While this opinion clearly highlights the need for further guidance from either Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court, little has changed for those seeking to obtain patent protection on computer implemented methods, say Guy Gosnell and Jim Carroll of Alston & Bird LLP.
-
Analysis In 1st AIA Ruling Should Have Gone Deeper
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board should be applauded for its timeliness and its willingness to make some clear statements in its first written decision in a covered business method review under the America Invents Act, SAP America Inc. v. Versata Development Group Inc. But this was a missed opportunity to clarify Section 101 validity issues, says Susan Pan of Sughrue Mion PLLC.
-
Top Things You Must Know About TCPA Cases
Much like any other class action, the settlement administration of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case requires a broad and adequate noticing campaign, an efficient claims process and careful attention to details such as data point matching and regulatory compliance. But TCPA cases also require special knowledge in several key areas, say Andrew Shimek and Adam Palmer of Epiq Systems.
-
Is TAR Right For Your Discovery Project?
There are several critical decision factors to weigh to assess whether Technology Assisted Review is right for a discovery project — for example, the nature of the case, internal capabilities, production considerations and overall comfort with this technology, say Michele Lange and Joseph White of Kroll Ontrack Inc.
-
Debate Over New GTLD Applications Won't End Soon
Throughout the generic top-level domain application process, applications for generic and legally defined terms have been the source of significant debate, and new developments show that the debate may continue — possibly even after the process ends, says Heather Nolan of InfoLawGroup LLP.
-
Takeaways From USPTO's 1st Covered Business Method Review
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's June 11 ruling in SAP America Inc. v. Versata Dev. Group Inc. that the patent claims are invalid conflicts with the Federal Circuit’s infringement judgment against SAP. Such contrary conclusions between administrative agencies and judicial bodies may be on the rise given the availability of the America Invents Act’s new post-issuance proceedings, say attorneys with McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
-
Class Arbitration Is Back In Arbitrators’ Hands
Arbitrators can still interpret contracts pretty much any way they want, according to the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter. The holding should come as no great surprise as it reflects decades of federal arbitration law, yet the unanimous ruling is a surprise, given what preceded it, says Christopher King of Homer Bonner Jacobs.
-
Cable Networks, Distributors Face Tough Carriage Disputes
The recent decisions in Comcast Cable Communications LLC v. Federal Communications Commission and Sky Angel U.S. LLC v. National Cable Satellite Corporation underscore the rigorous review carriage dispute claims receive and provide insight into how such claims may be treated by courts and the FCC in the future, says Burt Braverman of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
-
Dear Mobile Medical App Developers ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an "It Has Come to Our Attention Letter" to Biosense Technologies, the developer of a urine analyzer mobile app. Although the FDA does not indicate why it opted to publicly disclose this letter, one can assume that it did so due to the regulatory uncertainty in this area and the desire to put other app developers on notice of the issue, says Paul Rubin of Ropes & Gray LLP.