A federal judge in New York today declared parts of the USA Patriot Act unconstitutional because they infringe free speech rights. He also ordered the government to stop using "national security letters" to make companies turn over information about customers.
The Washington Post story here includes a link to the 106-page opinion.
Barry Barnett
The poet Shelley wrote, in 1817, about a great Middle Eastern conqueror:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell
Blawgletter lives for days like today. So much interesting stuff to do and so little time to punch it out.
But hark! We did notice that a circuit other than the Federal issued an opinion on a question sure to beguile patent law practitioners. And the Federal Circuit published a couple of patent-law opinions, too.
Today, the Second Circuit rendered judgment in ABC v. DEF, No. 05-13721 (2d Cir. Sept. 5, 2007). Blawgletter at first thought that the style of the case simply abbreviated the parties’ names. But no.
The plaintiff, ABC, lives in a federal prison. We can’t tell why, but the court does mention his "cooperation with
The Fifth Circuit yesterday held that a trial lawyer who suffered a heart attack, failed stress tests, and underwent a quadruple bypass couldn’t collect insurance benefits for "total disability". The decision turned on whether or not the lawyer could "perform the material and substantial duties of his regular occupation." The 2-1 majority rejected the lawyer’s
Today, the Third Circuit reversed dismissal of Broadcom’s claims that QUALCOMM tried to monopolize the market for cellular phone "chipsets" by manipulating the process for setting industry technology standards. Broadcom alleged that QUALCOMM fooled a "standards-determining organization" into adopting a QUALCOMM-friendly standard for "Wideband CDMA". QUALCOMM did so, according to the complaint, because it wanted
The Eleventh Circuit applied Georgia law today in declaring Comcast’s ban on class arbitrations unconscionable and therefore unenforceable. Agreeing with the reasoning in Kristian v. Comcast Corp., 446 F.3d 25 (1st Cir. 2006), the court concluded that enforcing the ban would "allow Comcast to engage in unchecked market behavior that may be unlawful. Corporations
The Second Circuit today upheld dismissal of antitrust claims against elevator manufacturers. Applying the pleading standard in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955 (2007), to the pre-Twombly order, the court found allegations of agreements to limit competition at indefinite times and places, parallel conduct, and anticompetitive behavior in Europe insufficient
Kim Jong Il. Love the suit.
The New York Times announced today a North Korean announcement that the United States will end sanctions against the renegage regime and undeclare its status as a supporter of terrorism.
On January 29, 2002, President Bush included North Korea in the Iraq-Iran-North Korea "axis of evil" — an echo
On Friday, the Eleventh Circuit upheld an order certifying a class of guestworkers who alleged violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (AWPA). The guestworkers — from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico — sought actual and statutory damages from Eller and Sons Trees, which employed them to plant trees in the southern United
