Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Technology
-
June 18, 2013
Verizon Finishes Off Creditor Suit Over $9B Idearc Spinoff
Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday defeated a $9 billion fraudulent transfer suit that targeted its spinoff of the former Idearc Inc., when a Texas federal judge ruled that the bankrupt phone directory company’s creditors couldn't prove that Verizon had intended for the spinoff to fail.
-
June 18, 2013
Samsung Hit With Patent Suit Over Video-Sharing Technology
Virginia Innovation Sciences Inc. sued Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and two of its subsidiaries in Virginia federal court Friday, alleging that a host of the South Korean electronics giant's smartphones, tablets and accessories infringe patents covering the transfer of information from a mobile network to a television.
-
June 18, 2013
Google Seeks Separate Release Of National Security Requests
Google Inc. on Tuesday asked the secret court overseeing government surveillance for permission to disclose the number of national security-related data requests it has received separately from other requests, bashing a deal other technology giants made to release all the data at once.
-
June 18, 2013
IRS Should Tax Virtual Money Spent On Real Goods, GAO Says
Role-playing gamers who exchange virtual currency for real money or products should have to pay taxes for those transactions, but the Internal Revenue Service shouldn't implement a stringent compliance system just yet, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued Monday.
-
June 18, 2013
AT&T Can't Escape Field Technicians' Wage Suit
An Indiana federal judge on Monday denied an attempt by units of AT&T Inc. to dismiss a collective action brought by 11 field technicians alleging the telecom did not properly pay for meal periods, ruling that the plaintiffs claims are strong enough to allow the case to advance.
-
June 18, 2013
Laser Co. Plans To Use Litigation Profits To Pay Creditors
Laser manufacturer Deep Photonics Corp. on Monday submitted its Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which relies on the proceeds of pending litigation in Oregon against its former CEO as well as future company profits to repay its general unsecured creditors in full.
-
June 18, 2013
Patent Suits, Damages Awards Spiked In 2012, Report Says
The number of patent lawsuits filed last year jumped 29 percent over 2011 to reach the highest level ever recorded, while a spate of unusually large damages awards made 2012 a "colossal year" for patent litigation, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP released Tuesday.
-
June 18, 2013
Barnes & Noble Exec Backs Apple's E-Book Defense
A Barnes & Noble Inc. executive testified Tuesday in New York that the retailer considered implementing a business model that would have let publishers raise digital book prices before Apple Inc. did so, supporting Apple's defense in the final week of an antitrust trial over alleged e-book price-fixing.
-
June 18, 2013
Obama FCC Pick Scrutinized Over AT&T, T-Mobile Comments
The former telecommunications lobbyist tapped to head the Federal Communications Commission told a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday that he would emphasize a precise and responsible review of mergers if Congress approved him, responding to controversy over his past suggestions that the doomed AT&T Inc.-T-Mobile USA Inc. merger should not have failed.
-
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.
Expert Analysis
-
Covered Business Method Review: An Important Tool
Financial services and software companies have a new way to attack the validity of business method patents. Covered business method review may provide several important advantages over district court litigation alone, says Matthew Blackburn of Locke Lord LLP.
-
NY Decision Underscores Need For Clarity On FTAIA
Decisions by the Third and Seventh Circuits have arguably made it easier for plaintiffs to bring antitrust suits for conduct occurring overseas that is claimed to have anti-competitive effects in the U.S. Whether other courts will follow this direction, however, has been called into question by the Southern District of New York's recent decision in Lotes Co. Ltd. v. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., say attorneys with Winston & Strawn LLP.
-
COPPA Rule Reminders For July 1 Compliance Deadline
Companies operating online should be determined to be in full compliance with the amended Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act rule by July 1, and should be aware that the revisions regarding parent consent, the entities subject to the rule, and the definition of "personal information" have far-reaching impact, say Alan Raul and Edward McNicholas of Sidley Austin LLP.
-
Mediators, Expand Your Tool Kit In Complex Litigation
The resolution of class actions or multidistrict litigation cases can present a number of challenges that call for the utmost in the mediator's skill and understanding. Though there is no typical complex litigation case, a mediator needs to recognize the special levels of complexity in these cases, such as litigating against "repeat players" and handling "follow-on" cases, says James Rosenbaum of JAMS.
-
We Need Mediation In E-Discovery
While parties may be hesitant to allow a nonjudicial proceeding to dictate their discovery needs, the level of expediency and the cost-effective nature of e-discovery mediation far outweigh any benefit to litigating these procedural components, say Daniel Garrie and Salvatore Scibetta of Law & Forensics LLC.
-
FRCP Amendments Could Change Discovery As We Know It
On June 3, the federal judiciary’s Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved for publication proposals to limit the scope of discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The proposed amendments appear well targeted to aggressively rein in a discovery process that many believe has gotten out of control in too many cases, say attorneys with Reed Smith LLP.
-
DOD Counterfeit Parts Rule — So Little After So Long
Now that the U.S. Department of Defense's proposed rule on detection and avoidance of counterfeit parts has finally arrived, those who were expecting meaningful guidance surely will be disappointed. The rule fails to inform contractors of how they can minimize compliance risk, says Robert Metzger of Rogers Joseph O'Donnell PC.
-
Proactive Privacy Regulators: An Emerging Trend
International, federal and state regulators are stepping up investigations of privacy practices in the absence of actual harm, or even demonstrable risk of harm, to consumers. Statutory damages and civil penalties are available in many cases — even in the absence of harm to consumers — which makes this new approach particularly concerning, say Lynn Percival and Elizabeth Johnson of Poyner Spruill LLP.
-
How Facebook Informs Exclusive Jurisdiction Provisions
A corporate exclusive venue provision in a certificate of incorporation was the subject of a recent opinion by the Southern District of New York in In re Facebook Inc. IPO Securities and Derivative Litigation. The decision also concerns important questions for MDL litigation, says Fred Isquith of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.
-
Trademark Clearinghouse: Hype Or Hope For TM Owners?
There have been exaggerated reports of some purported benefits of recording a trademark in the clearinghouse. Before trademark owners rush to record all their marks in the clearinghouse, they should consider the costs/benefits and other options, says Keith Barritt of Fish & Richardson PC.