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Top News
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September 24, 2012
Rambus' Royalties From Hynix Reduced Over Destroyed Docs
Rambus Inc.'s destruction of documents related to memory chip patents it planned to assert against Hynix Semiconductor Inc. merits a downgrade in a $400 million penalty assessed against Hynix, but neither dismissal nor a new trial is warranted, a California federal judge ruled Friday.
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September 24, 2012
FINRA Fines Merrill Lynch Over Unfiled Broker Reports
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Monday fined Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. $500,000 for supposedly failing to report hundreds of civil and criminal complaints against its brokers between 2007 and 2011, including some alleging theft.
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September 21, 2012
9th Circ. Leaves Climate Change Suits Up To State Law
The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld the dismissal of a public nuisance lawsuit brought by an Alaskan village against ExxonMobil Corp. and other energy giants over their greenhouse gas emissions, a decision that leaves state law nuisance claims as the only pathway toward addressing damage allegedly caused by climate change in court.
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September 21, 2012
Alcatel-Lucent Unit Reaches $4M Deal To Quash FCA Suit
An Alcatel-Lucent SA unit has agreed to pony up $4.2 million to settle an ex-contract manager's False Claims Act allegations that it submitted inaccurate testing certifications to the U.S. Army for Iraq’s emergency communications system, according to a statement released Friday.
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September 21, 2012
SC Johnson Bribery Claims Not Preempted, 7th Circ. Says
The Seventh Circuit on Friday found that S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. could continue part of a bribery and racketeering suit against several transportation companies, ruling that a federal transportation statute didn't warrant dismissal of all of the company's state law claims.
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September 21, 2012
11th Circ. Tosses Royal Caribbean Legionnaire's Suit
The Eleventh Circuit on Friday ruled Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. can’t face claims that a passenger’s death from a bacterial infection during a cruise was caused by poor conditions because the ticket contract stipulated all personal injury claims are subject to English law.
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September 21, 2012
$304M Attys' Fees In Grupo Mexico Case Survive Challenge
The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday unanimously denied Grupo Mexico SAB's attempt to reduce the $304 million fee awarded plaintiffs' attorneys in a shareholder derivative suit against the mining company over a questionable merger, finding its motion for reargument barred by state law as well as lacking merit.
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September 21, 2012
Discover Says It Will Pay $200M To Cardholders Over Fees
Discover Financial Services has reached an agreement with federal regulators to pay $14 million in fines and $200 million in refunds to cardholders who bought certain fee-based products, the company said Friday, resolving allegations that the products were deceptively marketed.
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September 21, 2012
Standard Chartered Seals $340M NY Deal Over Iran Violations
The New York Department of Financial Services announced Friday it had finalized a $340 million settlement with Standard Chartered PLC over claims the bank helped Iranian government-backed banks transfer more than $250 billion in violation of U.S. sanctions.
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September 21, 2012
German Court Hands Loss To Apple In Samsung Patent Fight
A German court dealt Apple Inc. a blow in its global patent war with rival smartphone makers Friday, ruling that Samsung Electronics Co. and Google Inc.'s Motorola Mobility hadn't infringed a patent related to touch-screen technology.
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September 21, 2012
Three Bayer Probiotics False Ad Class Actions Revived
A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday reversed her dismissal of three putative class actions accusing Bayer HealthCare LLC of making false health benefit claims in packaging and advertising for its digestive health supplements, after the plaintiff in a similar suit dropped her appeal.
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September 20, 2012
Apple Loses Bid To Trademark IPhone Music Icon
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on Tuesday refused to allow Apple Inc. to trademark the musical note icon used for the iPhone's music feature, finding it confusingly similar to a similar logo registered by a defunct music download service called iLike.
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September 20, 2012
2nd Circ. Pulls Plug On KeySpan Price Inflation Antitrust Suit
The Second Circuit refused Thursday to breathe new life into a consumer's putative antitrust class action alleging KeySpan Corp. used a complex financial transaction to gouge New York City electricity buyers, saying regulators approved the price even though it was set at auction.
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September 20, 2012
Actress Can't Make Google Pull Anti-Islam Film From YouTube
An actress suing Google Inc. and others for defamation over “The Innocence of Muslims,” an anti-Islam film that set off recent violence in the Middle East, lost her bid Thursday for an emergency order forcing the search giant to remove the film from YouTube.
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September 19, 2012
6th Circ. Revives RICO Case Against John Hancock, Law Firm
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday revived a putative Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act class action accusing John Hancock Life Insurance Co., Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP and others of making misrepresentations to steer companies to an abusive tax shelter.
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September 19, 2012
High Court Won't Block Texas Interim Redistricting Plan
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ended a bid by the League of United Latin American Citizens to block the implementation of a court-ordered interim congressional redistricting plan in Texas, which will remain in effect through the November general election.
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September 19, 2012
EPA Scores Another Win In NRG Plant Pollution Suit
A Louisiana judge on Wednesday handed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a win in its dispute with NRG Energy Inc. unit Louisiana Generating LLC, ruling that changes to its Big Cajun II power plant did not qualify for a routine-work Clean Air Act exemption.
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September 19, 2012
Full Tilt Poker Exec Pleads Guilty To Bank Fraud
The former head payment processor at Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars pled guilty Wednesday in New York federal court to criminal fraud allegations that he lied to U.S. banks about hundreds of millions of dollars worth of financial transactions in order to circumvent U.S. gaming laws.
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September 19, 2012
AK Steel Will Fork Over $16M To Settle ERISA Suit
An Ohio federal judge on Wednesday approved a $15.8 million settlement for AK Steel Corp. and a group of retirees and their families, resolving class action claims that the steelmaker violated federal pension law by cutting their health care benefits.
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September 19, 2012
HCA Fined $16.5M Over Whistleblower FCA Kickback Claims
Hospital chain HCA Holdings Inc. will pay $16.5 million to resolve whistleblower allegations that it defrauded Medicare and Medicaid and breached the False Claims Act and Stark Law by paying kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Takeaways From United Technologies' $75M Settlement
United Technologies Corporation's global settlement with the U.S. Departments of State and Justice underscores the importance of a robust compliance program to prevent, detect and remediate any violations of export control laws or regulations — especially if products and services are destined for China, say Jeffrey Gerrish and Soo-Mi Rhee of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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Understanding Mayo V. Prometheus
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's treatment of the machine-or-transformation test in Mayo Collaborative Services Inc. v. Prometheus Laboratories Inc., the test — previously thought to be the governing test for patent eligibility under § 101 — no longer appears to occupy such a prominent role in patent-eligibility jurisprudence, says William Merkel of Marshall Gerstein & Borun LLP.
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Radlax — 'An Easy Case'
“This is an easy case,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his opinion in Radlax Gateway Hotel LLC v. Amalgamated Bank, settling the issue of whether the Bankruptcy Code grants the secured creditor a right to credit bid in an auction sale under a plan. But interestingly, the opinion barely mentions the infamous Philadelphia News decision from the Third Circuit which was effectively overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, say attorneys with Foley & Lardner LLP.
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The Latest Attempt At Criminalizing 'Robo-Signing'
While the New York state Senate did not act on the Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Act of 2012 before adjourning its regular session — and as a result there is little chance the bill will be enacted this year — the bill represents the latest attempt by state governments to impose criminal liability on fraudulent foreclosure practices by mortgage servicers or their employees, say attorneys with Dechert LLP.
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How The 2nd Circ. Aleynikov Opinion Went Awry
In United States v. Aleynikov, the Second Circuit recently created an unfortunate cloud over the scope of the federal trade secret statute. The decision detracts from the primary legislative objectives to promote and protect national economic security and punish individuals who misappropriate intellectual property in the form of trade secrets, say Mark Krotoski and Richard Scott of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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PPACA Victory Sets Stage For New Wave Of Litigation
Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its coverage mandates have been upheld, the lack of regulatory guidance for many key areas of the statute creates uncertainty regarding implementation and enforcement. No matter how employers and plan fiduciaries approach the various coverage mandates, it is clear that the future is not without risk of litigation, say attorneys with Proskauer Rose LLP.
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Did The Court Get The Oracle Analysis Right?
The Northern District of California's opinion in Oracle America Inc. v. Google Inc. is suprising given that there was direct copying and that the threshold of originality required for a work to qualify as copyrightable has traditionally been so low that the application programming interfaces almost certainly qualified as sufficiently original to be protected by copyright, says David Makman of the Law Offices of David A. Makman.
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Facing CFIUS: Better Safe Than Sorry
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recently blocked yet another acquisition involving Chinese investors. Any foreign companies looking to invest in the U.S. should be wary of the scrutiny they may confront, and determine whether CFIUS review is likely, say George Wang and Yelena Kotlarsky of Haynes and Boone LLP.
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A Closer Look At ING's $619M Settlement
ING Bank NV's $619 million fine to settle criminal charges is the largest ever against a financial institution in connection with an investigation into U.S. sanctions violations and related offenses. The enforcement action is also notable in several other respects, say attorneys with Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
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Apple V. Motorola: Implications For Patent Damages
Unfortunately, the level of economic coherence in patent law with respect to damages today is roughly comparable to what existed in antitrust law in 1955. However, Judge Richard Posner’s recent opinions in Apple Inc. v. Motorola Inc. help clarify legal and economic standards for measuring patent damages, says Gregory Sidak of Criterion Economics LLC.