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April 24, 2014
FCC Chief Says New Rules Won't 'Gut' Net Neutrality
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on Thursday confirmed reports that he was introducing new net neutrality rules to replace regulations overturned in January, though he pushed back on claims that they'd be substantially weaker than the old rules.
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April 23, 2014
Judge Denies Apple's Bid To Halt E-Book Conspiracy Trial
A New York federal judge on Wednesday denied Apple Inc.'s attempt to halt a damages trial and class notification in antitrust actions over its alleged conspiracy with publishers to fix e-book prices, after state attorneys general and Apple customers argued against the delays.
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April 23, 2014
Qualcomm Could Face SEC Suit Over China Bribes
Qualcomm Inc. might be slapped with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action over allegations that it bribed individuals associated with Chinese state-owned companies or agencies, the company disclosed Wednesday in a securities filing.
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April 23, 2014
Al Jazeera Says Public Doesn't Need Details Of AT&T Dispute
Al Jazeera America LLC urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to reverse a decision requiring the network to file a largely unredacted version of its complaint against AT&T Services Inc., saying the company would be damaged financially if details of the contract dispute are made public.
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April 23, 2014
K&L Gates Adds Ex-Yahoo GC To M&A Group In Calif., Taiwan
Former Yahoo Inc. general counsel Jim Wu has returned to K&L Gates LLP as a partner in its corporate mergers and acquisitions practice in Taipei and Palo Alto, Calif., focusing on private equity and technology-related enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region, the firm announced Monday.
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April 23, 2014
Baker Botts Patent Malpractice Trial Kicks Off In Dallas
Baker Botts LLP will face off against claims its lawyers shared patent applications for former client Axcess International Inc. with one of its competitors in an alleged breach of its fiduciary duty, as a jury trial in the case opens Thursday afternoon in Dallas.
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April 23, 2014
White House Tries To Table Rand Paul's Phone Spying Suit
The White House, FBI and National Security Agency asked a D.C. federal judge to stay Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s proposed class action over the government’s phone call metadata collection practices, saying Wednesday that their appeal of an injunction on the program takes precedence.
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April 23, 2014
SEC Sues Ex-Nvidia Manager For Tipping Insider Traders
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hit a former Nvidia Corp. accounting manager with insider trading charges in New York federal court on Wednesday, alleging that he tipped his friend with nonpublic information in advance of the company’s earnings announcements in 2009 and 2010.
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April 23, 2014
Fed. Circ. Nixes Groupon's Bid To Move Peer-To-Peer IP Suit
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday denied Groupon Inc.'s bid to transfer digital marketing company Blue Calypso Inc.'s suit alleging that it infringed patents related to peer-to-peer advertising technology from Texas to Illinois, finding that a lower court judge correctly denied the transfer.
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April 23, 2014
FCC To Introduce New Open Internet Rules
The Federal Communications Commission will reportedly propose new net neutrality rules on Thursday that would allow content creators to pay Internet providers to guarantee faster access to consumers, replacing the regulations struck down by the D.C. Circuit in January.
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April 23, 2014
RE Rumor Mill: Bank Of NY Mellon, Sony, JPMorgan
Bank of New York Mellon considers moving to New Jersey, Sony plans to get into real estate business, and New York plans to shut down Long Island College Hospital.
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April 23, 2014
Sandisk Denies Retail Deals Created SD Card Monopoly
Sandisk Corp. urged a California federal judge on Wednesday to toss accusations that Sandisk’s exclusive sales agreements with retailers created an illegal monopoly in the SD memory card market, arguing in the suit, which also disputes Sandisk's patent licensing, that the agreements don't prohibit other manufacturers from competing.
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April 23, 2014
Korean Antitrust Watchdog Calls Patents Top Priority
South Korea's antitrust watchdog plans to focus its efforts on patent-related competition issues over the next year, including patent trolls, standard-essential patents and other potentially abusive intellectual property enforcement, a top official reportedly said Tuesday.
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April 23, 2014
Justices Lean Toward Landowners In CERCLA Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday signaled support for a decision to revive contamination claims against CTS Corp., suggesting that Congress did not believe there was a distinction between statutes of limitations and statutes of repose when it amended the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Liability and Compensation Act.
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April 23, 2014
FTC Greenlights $2B Facebook, Oculus Deal
The Federal Trade Commission granted early termination to the required waiting period for Facebook Inc.’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus Rift VR, the company developing a virtual reality headset, according to a brief notice Wednesday.
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April 23, 2014
Raymarine The Latest Target In NovelPoint GPS Patent Blitz
Marine electronics manufacturer Raymarine Inc. on Tuesday joined a not-so-exclusive group of companies hit by NovelPoint Tracking LLC with a patent suit in Texas for allegedly infringing a patent covering car GPS and collision prevention systems.
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April 23, 2014
Deals Rumor Mill: Charter, Eni, Carlo Tassara
Charter Communications is closer to inking a deal to snag 1.5 million subscribers from Comcast as the cable giant looks to appease competition regulators before they review its $45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable, while Hungary’s MOL Group has snapped up more than 100 Czech gas stations from Italy’s Eni.
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April 23, 2014
Google, SunPower Put Up $250M For Solar Lease Program
Google Inc. and SunPower Corp. are investing as much as $250 million in a new program to finance residential solar lease projects, the companies announced Wednesday.
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April 23, 2014
AT&T, Lucent Land $2.6M Fee Award In Calif. Sales Tax Fight
California's tax regulator must pay $2.6 million in attorneys' fees to AT&T Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. in a long-running battle over sales and use tax payments after a state judge ruled Friday that the tax agency wasn't justified in defending the suit.
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April 23, 2014
NJ Rolls Out New Sales Tax Regs On Software Sales
The New Jersey Division of Taxation released proposed rules Monday clarifying the proper sales tax treatment of computer software and related software maintenance services, a move the regulator said is intended to clear up confusion within the industry.
Expert Analysis
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Legal Evolution: It’s Back To Business
More often, smaller rivals are taking market share from the largest law firms. In this context, these smaller rivals are not small — they are super-regional firms with between 201 and 750 attorneys. These firms are large enough to serve the needs of a global corporation at a better value. And as they grow, they need to be sure they don’t make the same mistakes as the firms from which they’ve taken market share, says Michael Lipps of LexisNexis.
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Don't Forget Export Rules When Hiring Foreign Nationals
The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security's recent $115,000 settlement with Intevac Inc. for violations of the Export Administration Regulations, including allowing certain non-U.S. national employees access to controlled technology, emphasizes the need to assess potential export control requirements when applying for a work visa on behalf of a foreign national employee, say James Losey and Sarah Flannery of Thompson & Hine LLP.
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ITC On Digital Imports: Takeaways For Software, Media Cos.
The U.S. International Trade Commission's much-awaited decision in Certain Digital Models confirms that the ITC can provide a powerful remedy for software, publishing and media companies whose intellectual property rights have been violated. However, those wishing to take advantage of this decision should craft their discovery requests carefully, and consider the timing of when they file complaints, says Aarti Shah, a partner with Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC and former senior investigative attorney at the ITC.
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Mandatory Pro Bono Is Not The Answer For Practitioners
The State Bar of California has decided to follow New York's lead and require prospective attorneys to record 50 hours of pro bono service in order to be eligible for admission. While we applaud the intentions behind these initiatives, there are a number of reasons why state bars should limit any mandatory pro bono requirement to this context, rather than extend it to licensed attorneys as some have suggested, say attorneys with the Association of Pro Bono Counsel.
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An Accused Infringer’s Guide To Parallel Proceedings
By managing the timing of post-grant proceedings, an accused infringer may increase its chances of negating a damages award in parallel district court litigation. Taking measures to actively create circumstances like those in Fresenius v. Baxter is a way to insure against a potentially large patent infringement judgment, say Jeffrey Totten and Elizabeth Laughton of Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP.
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The Evolving New Normal For Data Breach Responses
The Target Corp. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey data breaches differed in manner, size and scope, but both reveal the vulnerabilities all companies are facing. A nuanced, more responsive, and more uniform legal and regulatory framework is required. That environment is being shaped by private actions, legislative and administrative responses, and various corporate initiatives, say Mark Salah Morgan and Andres Acebo of Day Pitney LLP.
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Mobile Enforcement Continues To Be APPealing To FTC
Since the Federal Trade Commission announced its first enforcement action involving a mobile app back in 2011, the commission has actively brought privacy cases against app developers under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Oftentimes, the FTC's actions came from a disconnect between the privacy policies and actions a mobile app or device took, which may have resulted from an update without alerting consumers, say Alysa Hutnik and Crystal Skelton of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.
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The Future Of Law Firm PR: The Good, Bad And Ugly
There has been a dramatic change in how public relations professionals interact with the news media to promote or protect a law firm’s brand and reputation. But content is queen and has a bright future in law firm PR — it all begins with a plan that should include goals, performance indicators and a system of assessment, say Paul Webb, director of marketing at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP, and Kathy O'Brien, senior vice president at Jaffe PR.
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Connected Cars Collide With Consumer Privacy
Some predict "connected cars" will generate revenue of more than $25 billion in 2014 and more than $130 billion in 2019. But before automakers, mobile app developers and others in the connected car ecosystem can cash in, legislators and regulators have difficult data privacy issues to address, says Nancy Libin, a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP and former chief privacy and civil liberties officer of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Antitrust Guidance On Cybersecurity Reaffirms Old Approach
Though the antitrust agencies’ recent policy statement on cybersecurity information-sharing is consistent with prior guidance, it is significant. It is not likely that cybersecurity legislation will become law anytime soon, and this statement responds to industry’s concerns by clearly establishing that properly designed and executed cyberthreat information-sharing does not raise antitrust concerns, say Jamillia Padua Ferris and Paul Tiao of Hunton & Williams LLP.