Welcome to the end-of-summer issue of Commercial Roundup–a collection of the most important appellate decisions for commercial litigators and trial lawyers by the U.S. Supreme Court, the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the highest courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas.
- Action to confirm or vacate arbitration award must raise federal question apart from Arbitration Act to proceed in federal court.
- Directors’ passage of bylaws with intent to thwart bid to replace them violated duty of loyalty and invalidated bylaw changes.
- Joint venture partner’s attempt to eject other partner from $165 million contract warranted preliminary injunction for breach of fiduciary duty.
- Amending complaint to drop patent claims didn’t prevent ruling on patents’ validity from having preclusive effect.
- Obviousness defeats patent for sending data.
- Claim that inside group knew FCC would choose public over private auction of spectrum lacked enough details.
- 5-year delay in suing over flimsy zipper pouches made contract claims too late.
- Rule requiring “patentably distinct” changes to unpatentable invention doesn’t apply in re-exams.
- Buyer of Gucci store on Rodeo Drive could deduct cost of early loan payoff from resale price to compute prior owner’s share (zero).
- Plaintiff’s dismissal without prejudice as to one defendant did not make defendant “prevailing party” eligible for award of attorney’s fees under Copyright Act.
- Google Monopolized Online Search, U.S. Judge Rules.
- Power company may have abused its dominance in fight with upstart over long-term contract with wholesale buyer.
- Texas law applied to whether insurer could back out of policy.
- Software for insurance quotes might support copyright claim.
- IPR filer didn’t forfeit ground by not raising it on rehearing.
- Patent on using images to retrieve info claimed unpatentable abstract idea.
- For avoidance of doubt, I scratch my head a lot.
- “COGNAC” certification mark might preclude trademark using “Cognac” for hip-hop music.
- Public policy defense couldn’t rescue Venezuelan iron ore producer from arbitration award for breach of supply contract.
- Question of whether trademark owner meant to resume using it despite 3-year gap raised fact issue for trial.
- Google search results supported claim that buyers of restaurants used seller’s trademark despite lack of license.
- Request for damages gave loser in fight to purchase tech firm right to jury trial despite equitable nature of its claim for aiding breaches of fiduciary duty.
- Saudi firm’s foot-dragging justified dismissal of its case.
- Sale of product that used process more than a year before its owner applied to patent it triggered on-sale bar despite its secrecy.
- Guess that patent owner would sue after dropping claim with prejudice failed to show concrete harm Article III requires for standing.
- Whether copyright owner timely brought infringement claim doesn’t depend on owner’s savvy.
- Quantum meruit claim didn’t allow recovery of contract price.
- Tons of parol evidence showed what contract unambiguously meant.
- Suit over thwarting of deal to buy fiber-optic network should proceed in the U.K.
- New state-wide appeals court for business cases doesn’t conflict with some parts of Texas Constitution.
- “Red flags” in patent case didn’t warrant fee award.
- Floor on royalties didn’t misuse U.S. patents by forcing payments after they expired.
- Patents on video choice failed both steps of Alice test for patentable subject matter.
- Lending digital copies of books that lender held on its shelves didn’t qualify as “fair use” under Copyright Act.
- In patent cases involving question of obviousness, person of ordinary skill in the relevant art need not have acquired the skill at the time the inventor conceived of the invention.
- Stay of motion to compel arbitration pending discovery on arbitrability of dispute didn’t trigger right to appeal.
- Section 230 of Communications Decency Act didn’t shield TikTok from claim that its algorithm’s promotion of video to 10 year-old girl led her to hang herself by mistake.
- Directors owed preferred shareholders no fiduciary duty not to structure transactions in way that favored common shareholders.
- Website gave paint buyer enough notice of arbitration clause.
- Absence of seller’s assent to key term of stock purchase deal barred breach of contract claim.
- Party’s failure to correct wrong address didn’t forfeit due process right to notice of trial.
- IPR finding that maker of wireless chip sets didn’t infringe one patent didn’t estop patent owner from claiming it infringed other patents that might lack a key limitation.
