Practice Areas
Industries
Technology
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May 16, 2012
IBM Demands Sanctions For CEO No-Show In Antitrust Row
IBM Corp. asked a Florida federal judge on Wednesday to sanction QSGI Inc. for its CEO's failure to show up at a scheduled deposition in QSGI's suit alleging that IBM created a monopoly that drove the mainframe reseller into bankruptcy.
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May 16, 2012
Google To Defend Privacy Policy At French Watchdog Meeting
Google Inc. will meet with France's data protection regulator next week to defend the lawfulness of its new privacy policy, the company confirmed Wednesday, marking the latest step in a European Union-wide probe that could result in hefty civil penalties.
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May 16, 2012
Akin Gump Patent Ace Jumps To IP Firm Oblon Spivak
Former Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP partner and software patent specialist Michael L. Kiklis has joined Oblon Spivak McClelland Maier & Neustadt LLP as a partner in its Alexandra, Va., office, the global intellectual property law firm announced Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
FCC Asks Verizon To Speak Up On Spectrum Sale Plan
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday asked Verizon Wireless to provide more information after it announced it will sell its 700 MHz spectrum licenses if its purchase of certain advanced wireless services spectrum licenses is completed.
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May 15, 2012
Apple, Netflix, Others Sued Over Mobile Display Patents
Patent-licensing company Rotatable Technologies LLC on Tuesday slapped Apple Inc., Netflix Inc. and multiple other companies with a patent suit alleging infringement of its mobile device display technology.
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May 15, 2012
Ex-Brocade Worker Seeks Sanctions In Trade Secrets Case
A former Brocade Communications Systems Inc. employee asked a California federal judge on Monday to impose sanctions on the data storage company for allegedly forcing him to defend a groundless lawsuit for nearly two years.
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May 15, 2012
Activision Asks Judge To Delay 'Call Of Duty' IP Trial
Activision Publishing Inc. urged a California state judge on Tuesday to postpone the start of a trial over $1 billion breach-of-contract claims brought by the creators of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" who allege Activision cheated them out of royalties from the video game.
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May 15, 2012
LightSquared Scores Access To $15M In Cash On 1st Day
A New York bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved all of struggling wireless communications startup LightSquared Inc.'s first-day motions, enabling the new debtor to continue to operate during the early days of its bankruptcy through the use of $15 million in cash.
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May 15, 2012
Qualtrics Eyes Expansion With $70M Accel, Sequoia Infusion
Online research software company Qualtrics Inc. landed a $70 million joint investment from private equity firms Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital that will help Qualtrics expand its software-as-a-service offerings beyond market research, according to an announcement Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
Apple, Publishers Can't Close Book On Price-Fixing MDL
Apple Inc. and a group of book publishers lost a bid Tuesday to dismiss consumer class actions alleging they conspired to inflate the price of e-books, after a New York federal judge deemed the allegations plausible enough to proceed.
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May 15, 2012
Apple Challenges Claims Its Siri Ads Were Misleading
Apple Inc. on Thursday challenged accusations in a consolidated suit that its Siri speech-recognition software in the iPhone 4S falls short its advertised capabilities, arguing it has explicitly stated the software is in “beta” form that will continue to improve.
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May 15, 2012
Samsung Gets Some Apple Claims Tossed In Patent Fight
A California federal judge on Monday trimmed claims from Apple Inc.'s patent and trade dress suit accusing Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. of copying the iPhone and iPad, as the suit continues to be pared down in advance of the planned July trial.
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May 15, 2012
Peregrine Says HTC Smartphone Infringes 5 Circuit Patents
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. sued HTC Corp. and its U.S. subsidiary in the U.S. International Trade Commission and California federal court on Monday, accusing the smartphone maker of infringing five patents covering radio frequency circuitry.
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May 15, 2012
Whistleblowers Want $9M In Sun Microsystems Kickback Deal
Two whistleblowers whose False Claims Act and kickback suit against Oracle Corp. unit Sun Microsystems Inc. ended in a $46 million settlement with the federal government told an Arkansas federal court Monday that they deserve a $9.3 million cut of the deal.
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May 14, 2012
LightSquared Ch. 11 Won't Halt Falcone Fraud Claims
Harbinger Capital Management LLC head Philip Falcone may have breathed a temporary sigh of relief Monday when his troubled wireless startup LightSquared Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, but the move won’t save him from fraud claims by angry Harbinger shareholders, experts say.
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May 14, 2012
FCC Suspends Ruling On Comcast Bias Against Tennis Channel
The Federal Communications Commission on Monday stayed its December decision asking Comcast Cable Communications LLC to carry The Tennis Channel Inc. on the same package as its affiliated sports networks in its first finding that a cable operator had flouted its anti-discrimination rules.
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May 14, 2012
AUO Exec Says DOJ Overreaching In Bid To Bar Hogan Atty
Convicted AU Optronics Corp. executive Hui Hsiung accused the government Monday of overstating the reach of ethics law to bar him from hiring Hogan Lovells attorney Neal Katyal even though the former acting solicitor general worked not on the price-fixing prosecution but on a related appeal.
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May 14, 2012
Microsoft Blocks German Threat In Motorola Patent Fight
A Washington federal judge overseeing a contract and patent fight between Microsoft Corp. and Motorola Inc. over video and wireless technologies on Monday granted Microsoft’s request to block Motorola from enforcing a German court’s May 2 order barring Windows and Xbox sales there.
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May 14, 2012
Calif. Court Won't Revisit Verdict Over $603M Boeing Contracts
A California appeals court has refused to reconsider an opinion overturning a $603 million jury verdict against a Boeing Co. unit in a dispute with ICO Global Communications Ltd. over two satellite contracts, ICO's parent Pendrell Corp. said Monday.
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May 14, 2012
EU Privacy Watchdogs Seek To Bolster Biometric Safeguards
Europe's national privacy regulators on Wednesday updated their biometric technologies guidance, cautioning that the increased use and convenience of these methods requires companies to employ stronger safeguards to counter new privacy and data security risks.
Expert Analysis
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Case Study: In Re Hartford Computer Hardware
In Re Hartford Computer Hardware Inc. provides a window into the distinction between the orders that are available in a plenary case under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act compared with the orders that can be recognized under Part IV of the act. Clearly, Canadian courts are very sensitive to the need for close cooperation with U.S. courts in cross-border insolvency matters, say Steven Golick and Patrick Riesterer of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
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Old-Fashioned Conspiracy In Cutting-Edge Technology
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the U.S. Department of Justice will continue to pursue litigation against Apple Inc., Macmillan Publishers Ltd. and Penguin Group Inc. for alleged price-fixing of e-books. The irony of this litigation is that it would appear that all the involved defendants were able to keep pace with technology, but not the simple evolution of corporate governance and compliance expectations, says Debra Rade of Rade Law LLC.
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Revitalizing A Dead Patent Family
The Federal Circuit has reversed a decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and held that a continuing reissue application can be filed to add broadening claims after the two-year limit has lapsed. This is a potentially powerful tool for patent owners who seek to protect nonclaimed subject matter of a patent that no longer has any pending applications, says Justine Gozzi of Baker Botts LLP.
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Trending Topic: Twitter's 'Innovator's Patent Agreement'
Twitter's new “Innovator’s Patent Agreement” — a policy covering assignment of inventions by Twitter employees to Twitter — appears to be an attempt to square the open-source ethos of Silicon Valley developers with the reality that software patents are becoming increasingly valuable assets to their employers, says Andrew Liddell of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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A Look At Recent Developments In Cybersecurity Policy
As cybersecurity issues continue to garner headlines, more than half a dozen bills that attempt to address network security are pending in Congress, and lawmakers increasingly are singling out China as the most threatening state actor. Operators of “critical infrastructure” should be aware of their potential new legal obligations and privileges under the various bills, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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In-License Agreements With Nonprofits: 5 Considerations
Many of the most profitable technologies being developed and commercialized by tech companies — particularly in the areas of life sciences and clean technology — were initially developed by nonprofit institutions. There are five often overlooked issues that should be considered by a company when negotiating an in-license agreement with nonprofits, say attorneys with Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.
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The Blurring Line Between Semi And Bio
People in the nanotechnology industry are noticing that the line that has typically — and clearly — divided semiconductor technology and biotechnology is now beginning to blur. IP practitioners need to realize that this new semi/bio combination is highly technically complex, and they need be ready to handle that, says Francisco Castro of McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd.
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Expanding The Extraterritorial Reach Of US Sanctions
The recently issued executive orders expanding sanctions against Iran and Syria serve to demonstrate the expanding extraterritorial reach of U.S. sanctions, even for activities without any connection to U.S. commerce and that otherwise would be lawful in the home jurisdictions of such third-country nationals, say attorneys with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
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Case Study: In Re Youman
The Federal Circuit decision in In re Youman provides some comfort to patentees seeking to file a broadened reissue where only some of the surrendered subject matter is “recaptured” and also provides useful rules for determining how much subject matter can be permissibly recaptured, says Gerald Murphy of Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch LLP.
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What Companies Can Learn From AU Optronics
The U.S. v. AU Optronics Corp. case demonstrated that the U.S. Department of Justice can successfully prosecute non-U.S. corporate and individual members of a global cartel. The verdicts provide a number of important lessons about the risks and rewards of forcing the government to prove its case in court, say John Majoras and Ryan Thomas of Jones Day.