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Technology
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June 7, 2013
Fed. Circ. Nixes Patent Bid For System To Research Prior Art
The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed the rejection of a patent application for an invention to help select prior art to send to the U.S. Patent Trademark Office as part of an application, finding the claims in the application were anticipated by an earlier invention.
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June 7, 2013
Privacy Panel Urges Broad Notice Of Data Breaches
Multinational corporations engaged in cross-border consumer data collection should issue comprehensive notifications of data breaches to avoid running afoul of a tangled web of international privacy laws, among other strategies, a panel of attorneys and insurers said at a privacy liability forum Friday.
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June 7, 2013
Motorola, Cisco, TWC Pay $490M In TiVo Patent Settlement
TiVo Inc. announced Friday that it had reached a $490 million settlement with Motorola Mobility Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. to resolve patent infringement allegations on the eve of trial.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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In Re Hubbell Puts Inventors At A Disadvantage
Obviousness-type double patenting usually arises between commonly owned patents or patent applications. While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has interpreted the judicially created doctrine as pertaining when there is common or overlapping inventorship, without regard to common ownership, the Federal Circuit had not upheld that interpretation of the doctrine until recently in In re Hubbell, says Courtenay Brinckerhoff of Foley & Lardner LLP
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Do SEP Holders Seeking Injunctions Violate Section 2?
Recent U.S. Department of Justice speeches and statements indicate that the DOJ may be searching for ways to enforce a policy of using Section 2 of the Sherman Act to discourage standard essential patent holders who license their patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms from seeking injunctive relief against alleged infringers. This would be a significant development in its regulatory agenda, says Wendy Fu of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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7 Reasons To Do Pro Bono Work
Research shows that helping others and cultivating social relationships makes us happier and that generous people live longer, healthier lives. These are just a few of the countless reasons to create time in our busy schedules to do pro bono and charitable work this year, says Anne Brafford of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
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Avoid The Top 10 Pitfalls In A Jury Charge Conference
It can be a challenge even for experienced trial lawyers to keep one eye on the present trial and one eye on the future appellate record, as the charge conference requires. But being aware of the major pitfalls of the conference, and how to avoid them, will pay big dividends later, say Dawn Solowey and Lynn Kappelman of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
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And Now A Word From The Panel ...
One of the most fascinating facets of watching the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is trying to guess not simply whether an MDL will be created, but where it will be located. Take, for example, In re Mirena IUD Products Liability and Marketing Litigation, slated to be heard at the March 21 hearing, says Alan Rothman of Kaye Scholer LLP.
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A London Stock Exchange Rewrite For Tech Cos.
Following a similar U.S. regime for emerging growth companies under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, the London Stock Exchange has introduced a section to its main market catering specifically to high growth companies looking for a transitional route to the official list. But for London to truly rival New York as an attractive place to list technology shares, it will require a much wider maturation of the market, say attorneys with Paul Hastings LLP.
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What Litigators Must Know About Va.’s 'Rocket Docket'
Do not be lulled into a false sense of complacency by the formality, civility and, in some cases, old-fashioned Southern charm of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Cases usually move with lightning speed, handled by efficient, polite, but no-nonsense jurists and courtroom deputies. There are many traps for the unwary, say Robert Tata and Wendy McGraw of Hunton & Williams LLP.
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Del. Leads The Way On CBM-Related Stay
Market-Alerts Pty. Ltd. v. Bloomberg Finance LP is one of the first judicial decisions to apply the new criteria governing covered business method post-grant review-related stays under the America Invents Act. The case highlights a significant new consideration for parties litigating CBM patents, particularly where the plaintiff is a nonpracticing entity, say attorneys with Gibbons PC.
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A Setback For Apple In Privacy MDL
As a result of Apple Inc.'s failure to comply with discovery obligations, a judge in the Northern District of California recently denied Apple's motion for summary judgment in a privacy class action by iPhone and iPad owners and ordered the plaintiffs to withdraw their class certification motion and refile later. Having now shown its cards on grounds for its dispositive motion and for opposing class certification, Apple could be in a quandary, says Evan Nadel of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.