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Technology
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June 7, 2013
Traffic Issues Raised With Apple's New Campus Plans
The draft environmental impact report for Apple Inc.'s proposed ring-shaped campus in the city of Cupertino, Calif., was released Thursday, voicing several traffic-related issues and calling for a possible reduction in density for the technology giant's plans.
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June 7, 2013
New Bill Would Widen 'Microentity' Patent App Discount
A bill introduced in Congress on Tuesday would allow more companies and individuals to qualify as "microentities" under patent law, giving them a 75 percent discount on U.S. Patent and Trademark Office fees.
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June 7, 2013
Google Threatened With Subpoena Over Painkiller Searches
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood on Friday threatened to subpoena Google Inc. if it doesn’t curb online access to counterfeit painkillers and pirated movies, a charge the search giant said it’s working feverishly to address.
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June 7, 2013
EU Civil Liberties Panel Advances Cyberattack Reforms
A European Union cybersecurity bill that would strengthen the bloc’s ability to go after hackers and companies that benefit from cyberattacks advanced from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday, positioning it for a full parliamentary vote in July.
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June 7, 2013
Oracle Adds Gov't Contract Policies To End Investor Suits
Oracle Corp. has reached a deal to end two shareholder derivative suits by installing new policies aimed at ensuring compliance with government contracting laws and regulations, according to documents filed in California federal court Thursday.
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June 7, 2013
Whittier, Exec Pay $1.7M To Settle SEC Insider Trading Suit
Investment firm Whittier Trust Co. and one of its former fund managers have agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit in New York federal court over an alleged insider trading scheme involving shares of technology firms that has sparked criminal charges, the agency said Friday.
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June 7, 2013
Fed. Circ. Nixes ITC Arbitration Order In LG Patent Case
The Federal Circuit ruled Friday that the U.S. International Trade Commission wrongly sent InterDigital Communications LLC's suit against LG Electronics Inc. over 3G wireless patents to arbitration, ruling that there was "no plausible argument" that the dispute was covered by a license.
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June 7, 2013
ITC Approves Foreign Discovery In Samsung-Ericsson IP Row
A U.S. International Trade Commission judge on Thursday backed Ericsson Inc.’s request for foreign help with obtaining discovery from Finland-based Nokia Corp. about its licensing deal with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for patents Ericsson has been accused of infringing.
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June 7, 2013
FCPA Powerhouse: Willkie Farr
Over the past year, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has helped Tyco International Ltd. escape brutal punishment for bribing government officials abroad, and on the flip side, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scandal surrounding Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has laid bare the potential consequences of not heeding the firm's advice.
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June 6, 2013
Motorola, Tivo Settle Billion-Dollar Patent Row On Eve Of Trial
Motorola Mobility Inc. on Thursday confirmed a settlement with digital video recording services giant TiVo Inc. after years of patent infringement claims and counterclaims between the two companies and assertions of billions of dollars in damages, just one week before trial was scheduled to begin in a Texas federal court.
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June 6, 2013
Snooping Outcry May Push Verizon, Others To Fight NSA Orders
Verizon Communications Inc. had little choice but to comply with the National Security Agency's recent demand for all its customer phone records, attorneys say, but the public outcry that has followed may convince the company and others that they should mount more of a fight next time the government comes calling.
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June 6, 2013
NSA Mines Personal Data From Google, Apple, Others: Report
Just a day after revelations that the National Security Agency collects phone records of American citizens, reports emerged Thursday of a classified document bearing the names of nine top Internet companies, including Google Inc. and Apple Inc., from which the government obtains email, videos, photos and other personal data.
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June 6, 2013
FCC To Vote On New Privacy Regs For Mobile Phone Data
The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it is planning to vote on whether to expand consumer privacy protections to include mobile networks and devices so that companies would have to seek cellphone customers' approval before sharing their personal information with marketing companies.
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June 6, 2013
Cartesian, Thomvest Buy Canada Wireless Co. Public Mobile
Canadian wireless company Public Mobile has been acquired by New York private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group LLC and venture capital investor Thomvest Seed Capital Inc., Public Mobile said Thursday, giving it access to capital as it tried to compete with the country's three largest carriers.
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June 6, 2013
Ousted Allegro CEO Sues To Get Post Back After 'Ambush'
The founder and former CEO of Dallas-based energy trading software developer Allegro Development Corp. sued the firm Wednesday in Delaware Chancery Court, claiming he was "ambushed" and improperly ousted so that two private equity investors could buy back their investment at a huge premium.
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June 6, 2013
Patent Licensing Exchange Launches 1st Offering
A Chicago-based company on Wednesday announced the first public offering of its planned financial exchange for intellectual property — a stock-market-like system that the company says is the first of its kind.
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June 6, 2013
Dish Scores $12.6M Malpractice Award Against Houston Firm
Dish Network Corp. on Thursday asked a Texas court to confirm a $12.6 million arbitration award against Houston law firm T. Wade Welch & Associates, which allegedly bungled multimillion-dollar litigation claiming Dish interfered with a Russian-language television provider’s contract with Comcast Communications Corp.
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June 6, 2013
Tech Firm Draws $332M Bid As China's MBOs Keep Rolling
China-based IT provider iSoftStone Holdings Ltd. said Thursday it had received a $332 million takeover proposal from its chief executive and a private equity partner, becoming the latest battered Chinese listing to field a management buyout bid.
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June 6, 2013
FCPA Powerhouse: Venable LLP
Venable LLP recently won stunning reversals for clients who had seemingly lost battles against bribery charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including in the landmark Lindsey Manufacturing Co. case, backing up its first-class compliance and investigations work and earning the firm a spot among Law360's FCPA Powerhouses.
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June 6, 2013
GSA Grants Cloud Security Clearance To Lockheed, HP
The U.S. General Services Administration's cloud security vetting program has taken a big step forward with authorizations to two major contractors, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., expanding the still-limited pool of contractors with pre-approved cloud security procedures.
Expert Analysis
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How Lawyers Benefit From Early Neutral Evaluation
Early neutral evaluation usually asks a retired judge to consider one party’s case, as if preparing to rule on summary judgment or presiding over a bench trial. Effective evaluation can supply a reality check on a case — it gives the lawyer the gift of seeing the case as others see it, says James Rosenbaum, a panelist with JAMS and former U.S. district judge for the District of Minnesota.
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New Facebook Notification: 'You've Been Served'
While the facts of FTC v. PCCare247 Inc. in the Southern District of New York are unique, this case and recently proposed Texas legislation may signal a U.S. trend toward considering, in appropriate circumstances, the use of social media to reach foreign litigants, says Jason Gonder of Haynes and Boone LLP.
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AT&T Case Confirms GAO's Broad View Of Waiver Authority
The U.S. Government Accountability Office's decision in AT&T Government Solutions Inc. opens the door for government agencies to use their waiver authority under Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 9.5 during a protest to render academic a protester’s claim of potential organizational conflicts of interest, say attorneys with Morrison & Foerster LLP.
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Litigation Support At A Crossroads
Despite recession-driven cost pressures that have resulted in the downsizing of nonlawyer personnel at law firms, many litigation support departments are growing. In a recent survey, half of respondents indicated that their function has grown in size in the past three years, and more than half of respondents indicated that current staffing levels are inadequate for the projected needs of the coming year, say experts at Epiq Systems and Georgetown University Law Center.
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How EU Data Protection Laws Apply To Mobile Apps
European data protection regulators recently issued a 30-page opinion addressing how mobile apps should comply with EU data protection law. While the opinion is not binding, it gives a clear indication of how data protection authorities in the EU would interpret their national laws and therefore should be taken into account when developing new apps targeted at EU individuals, say attorneys with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
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Takeaways From The Microsoft Internet Explorer Saga
The European Commission recently imposed a fine on Microsoft Corp. of $730 million for failure to abide by a commitment made in 2009 to make a browser-choice screen available to PC users. The commission's huge fine sends a strong signal to companies that failure to comply with the terms of a settlement will not be tolerated in any circumstance, say attorneys with McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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NPEs Are Undaunted By Recent Patent Reform
Recent court decisions and legislative action have offered corporations hope of significant relief from the flood of patent suits filed by nonpracticing entities. The early returns, however, suggest that these measures have done little to deter the proliferation of the NPE business model, says Mark Supko of Crowell & Moring LLP.
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Challenges In Conducting Breach Investigations: Part 1
Companies' data breach and cyber intrusion responses are commonly too narrowly shaped by state security breach notification requirements, industry rules governing payment card breaches and the absence of a direct legal obligation requiring a more comprehensive review. In critical instances, these responses are insufficient, says Kim Peretti of Alston & Bird LLP.
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Supreme Court Tames Class Action Frankenstein's Monster
The unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles will be praised by class action defense counsel as comporting with the congressional intent of the Class Action Fairness Act and ramifying the pleading strategies used by putative class representatives to maximize the litigation leverage of the "Frankenstein's monster" created by class actions, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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Italian Court's Google Decision: A Significant Precedent
The appellate court in Milan recently published its decision overturning the conviction of three Google Inc. executives for allowing video depicting the bullying of an autistic teenager to be uploaded to the Italian Google Video website. The opinion reduces the potential burdens facing content-hosting providers and other similar Internet companies, say attorneys with Jones Day.