New law would sap patent protection.
The Patent Reform Act of 2007 would do little reforming but much harm. Specifically, it would:
KKR, Blackstone, Cerberus, Texas Pacific, Sevin Rosen, Bain Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners belong to an elite group that raised $432 billion in commitments last year. They draw on the commitments to make huge investments, especially — and most controversially — to take public companies private.
What drives the going-private trend in the U.S.
Blawgletter got back this week from our first annual meeting as a member of the American Law Institute, in San Francisco. One session in the four-day gathering focused on a second "discussion draft" of Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation. And it fascinated Blawgletter.
The Principles project concerns not only class actions but
The Federal Circuit held today that non-disclosure by drug distribution giant McKesson of relevant information during prosecution of a patent rendered the patent unenforceable. The court therefore affirmed a judgment against McKesson after a four-day bench trial. McKesson Information Solutions, Inc. v. Bridge Medical, Inc. , No. 06-1517 (Fed. Cir. May 18, 2007).
The patent
Self-Portrait (1888). Mr. van Gogh cut his ear off
before painting Ms. Taylor’s picture.
Today, the Ninth Circuit held that actress Elizabeth Taylor needn’t part with a Vincent Van Gogh painting that she acquired at a Sotheby’s auction in 1963. The court held that ancestors of Margarete Mauthner, a Jewish collector who fled Nazi Germany
The First Circuit gave Colt a jolt today when it affirmed a summary judgment on the gun-maker’s claim against a competitor for infringing its trademark rights in "M4". Colt alleged that M4 identified it as the source of a certain kind of carbine rifle. The court held that the evidence established the "genericness" of M4
The administration yesterday prohibited federal agencies from hiring lawyers on a contingent fee basis. See Executive Order. Why? "To help ensure the integrity and effective supervision" of legal services to the government, of course.
How will paying hourly rates improve "integrity and effective supervision"? Blawgletter can only speculate.
But "integrity and effective supervision" just
A 2-1 panel of the Fifth Circuit today bludgeoned a securities fraud class action — probably to death. The court held that plaintiffs seeking class certification in a securities fraud case may not invoke the Basic, Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988), presumption of reliance without first proving "loss causation". (Loss causation usually
The Fourth Circuit today affirmed a verdict and judgment against Custer Battles for failing to compensate the company it hired to establish and provide security for a permanent camp at the Baghdad International Airport. Custer Battles hired DRC to do the work without a contract in writing. DRC built the camp and recruited British Army
The Federal Circuit today held that a defendant abandons its counterclaim if it moves to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) without reasserting the counterclaim. The court didn’t explain why a dismissal motion tolls the time for answering and counterclaiming in the context of a motion to dismiss an original complaint but not a later one. General