Practice Areas
Technology
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January 27, 2012
USPTO Wipes Out Key Rambus DRAM Patent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday invalidated another Rambus Inc. patent that has been at the center of the technology licensing firm’s victories at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
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January 27, 2012
Indiana Owes IBM $40M In Rumble Over $1.4B Contract: Judge
An Indiana state judge on Wednesday ruled that IBM International Corp. is entitled to $40 million in subcontractor assignment fees from Indiana in a gargantuan legal battle over the state's termination of a $1.4 billion contract to overhaul the state's welfare system.
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January 27, 2012
Ex-Groupon Sales Reps Fire Back At Trade Secrets Claims
Three former Groupon Inc. sales reps the company sued for defecting to Google Inc. and allegedly stealing trade secrets filed a countercomplaint in Illinois state court Friday, alleging the online coupon company intentionally filed sham litigation and asking the court to void noncompete covenants in their Groupon contracts.
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January 27, 2012
Hulu Escapes Rovi's Suit Over Video Guide Patents
A Delaware federal judge on Friday dismissed entertainment data provider Rovi Corp.'s complaint alleging popular online video provider Hulu LLC infringed three patents related to electronic programming guides, saying the suit must contain more facts supporting the allegations in order to continue.
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January 27, 2012
Sony Broke Ad Rules After 3-D TV Dispute With LG: NAD
The Counsel of Better Business Bureaus’ advertising arm on Thursday cited Sony Electronics Inc. for violating the advertising industry’s self-regulatory rules by touting the outcome of a deceptive advertising dispute with LG Electronics USA before it became public.
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January 27, 2012
Trident Creditors Object To $55M Sale, $10M Employee Payout
The unsecured creditors in the Delaware bankruptcy case of digital TV semiconductor company Trident Microsystems Inc. objected Thursday to a proposed $55 million stalking horse bid for the company's set-top box assets and the planned payout of more than $10 million to Trident employees.
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January 27, 2012
Klausner Trains Fire On MetroPCS In Voice Mail IP Blitz
Patent-holding company Klausner Technologies Inc. sued MetroPCS Communications Inc. in Texas federal court on Thursday, alleging the wireless carrier infringed two of its visual voice mail patents.
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January 27, 2012
Samsung Loses Another Round In Apple Fight In Germany
A German court on Friday tossed Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s second patent claim against Apple Inc. over mobile telecommunications technology a week after the court rejected its claim over a related patent, according to a patent expert’s blog.
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January 27, 2012
HP Faces Class Action Over Computer Power Supplies
Hewlett-Packard Co. on Thursday removed to California federal court a putative class action alleging that various models of the company's lines of Slimline and Pavilion computers were deceptively marketed and sold with inadequate power supplies.
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January 27, 2012
Weisbrod Matteis Lands Tech IP Expert
Washington-based litigation firm Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC has lured a former technology trade secrets prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice from Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker PA, the firm announced Monday.
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January 27, 2012
5 Ways To Ramp Up Your Patent Portfolio
With technology giants expected to jostle for bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co.'s enviable collection of patents, attorneys say building a strong patent portfolio is not only critical for companies wanting to protect their innovations and set themselves apart from rivals, it gives them more leverage in litigation.
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January 27, 2012
Seagate Closes Out Age Discrimination Action
A Minnesota federal judge signed off Thursday on a settlement agreement that brings to a close collective action allegations that Seagate Technology LLC discriminated against its elderly employees by firing them while keeping younger workers on payroll.
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January 27, 2012
New Policies To Boost US-Japan Trade Relations
The U.S. government on Friday announced a series of trade policy guidelines designed to improve trade conditions and communications technology compatibility between the U.S. and Japan that have been adopted since the countries embarked on a cooperation initiative in 2010.
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January 26, 2012
Google, Apple Anti-Poaching Pact Suit Proceeds
A California federal judge on Thursday allowed a proposed class action to proceed against media and technology giants including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. over their alleged anti-competitive agreements not to poach each other’s employees.
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January 26, 2012
Indirect Purchaser Classes Stand In LCD Price-Fixing Case
A California federal judge refused Thursday to decertify classes of indirect purchasers in a price-fixing case against LG Display Co. Ltd. and other makers of flat panel displays, rejecting arguments that the plaintiffs can't adequately identify indirect purchasers of the panels or quantify damages in the case.
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January 26, 2012
Motorola Didn't Infringe Apple Network Component IP: Judge
A federal judge in Illinois on Wednesday further whittled down a sprawling patent dispute between Apple Inc. and Motorola Inc. over smartphone technology, ruling that Motorola didn't infringe two Apple patents related to replaceable network components.
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January 26, 2012
Fed. Circ. Frees DirectTV From $80M Pension Transfer Claim
The Federal Circuit affirmed a ruling Thursday that freed DirectTV from a U.S. claim that it owed $80 million from pension surpluses it kept when it sold off its government contract units and associated employee pensions to The Boeing Co. and defense contractor Raytheon Co.
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January 26, 2012
Cablevision Faces Investor Suit Over Pumped-Up Stock Prices
A Cablevision Systems Corp. shareholder on Thursday filed a proposed securities fraud class action against the cable provider, alleging executives misled the public about problems with the company in order to inflate stock prices.
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January 26, 2012
Prosecutors Get An Earful For Adelphia Tax Evasion Case
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday dismissed a 6-year-old tax evasion case against a father-and-son pair of Adelphia Communications Corp. executives already sentenced in New York for securities fraud, questioning why federal prosecutors devoted years of resources to the case.
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January 26, 2012
Ad Regulator Says LG Should Pull 3-D TV Claims
An advertising industry self-regulator announced its findings Thursday that LG Electronics USA should stop using certain consumer perception claims in ads for its Cinema 3-D Television and 3-D glasses after Sony Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics America Inc. argued the claims were unsupported.
Expert Analysis
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Taking Stock Of Tech Stocks — Private Vs. Public
Given the economic headwinds facing the Eurozone and other developed economies in 2012, one could be forgiven for being somewhat downbeat about the prospects for corporate M&A and private equity and venture capital investment in the technology sector. However, we believe technology will account for a growing proportion of corporate activity for the year ahead, say Sam Jardine and Jon Gill of Eversheds LLP.
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China's Growing Influence Over Global Transactions
China's recent approval of Seagate Technology PLC's acquisition of a division of Samsung Electronics demonstrates how the country's merger control regime now significantly influences the outcome of global transactions. More importantly, China should be added to the list of major antitrust merger review jurisdictions that may approach the same global transaction differently, say Peter Wang, Sébastien Evrard and Yizhe Zhang of Jones Day.
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Year In Review: Significant Developments Under EEA
Last year was the most active and productive one since the enactment of the Economic Espionage Act more than 15 years ago. The convictions obtained and significant sentences imposed in 2011 send a strong message of general and specific deterrence, say Mark Krotoski and Richard Scott of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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US V. Jones: Unanimous Ruling, Disagreeing Justices
Despite the unanimous result in U.S. v. Antoine Jones, the U.S. Supreme Court justices were not in agreement on why GPS installation and tracking constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment. The respective opinions will provide plenty of fodder for discussion over the justices’ views of the Fourth Amendment in criminal cases, says Jeffrey Neuburger of Proskauer Rose LLP.
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Goodbye, Convergence
It is increasingly difficult to find a basis for the optimism that led antitrust practitioners in the 1990s to believe regulatory convergence between the U.S. and the European Union would happen. Now, multinational companies operating in both jurisdictions are confronting regulatory conflicts that put at risk policies and practices that long have been lawful in the United States, says Leiv Blad of Bingham McCutchen LLP.
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The Patriot Act And The Cloud: Part 1
The Patriot Act is one of the most controversial, polarizing and, in many respects, misunderstood, pieces of U.S. legislation this century. It is important to dispel some of the myths shrouding the act, and to assess the risks it poses to data stored in the cloud, particularly where the data, or its owner, are based outside of the U.S., says Alex Lakatos of Mayer Brown LLP.
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How The Entrepreneur Capital Act Could Impact Startups
Despite the enthusiasm for the concept of crowdfunding, the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act raises significant policy concerns as well as practical issues of implementation, say Lauren Lewis and William Manierre of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
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Domain Name Collateral And Trademark Tangles
The Ninth Circuit decisions in GoPets Ltd. v. Hise and Office Depot Inc. v. Zuccarini have made it easier for creditors to confidently access and auction domain names as security for loans or to satisfy judgments. However, there are trademark and administrative obstacles that continue to hinder a creditor’s clean monetization of the value in domain names, says Gavin George of Haynes and Boone LLP.
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Taking Steps Toward Trade Secret Reform
Practitioners and academics have spent much of the last two decades calling for a federal civil trade secret statute. But last year's effort in the U.S. Senate to amend the Economic Espionage Act ultimately ended in defeat, and a federal civil claim remains out of reach, say John Hornick and Griffith Price of Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP.
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Scoring Patents Sooner In The Gaming Industry
The pendency for patent applications involving certain technologies, including those that directly invoke the gaming industry, is higher than the overall average. Both accelerated examination and prioritized examination can provide benefits to companies in the gaming industry that seek to obtain patents faster on their inventions, says John Artz of Dickinson Wright PLLC.