Today, the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment against an automobile manufacturer that tried to compel a dealer to arbitrate their dispute under a contract that expired before the dispute arose. Nissan argued that the parties’ continuing to do business after contract expiration somehow revived the arbitration clause in the contract. The district court didn’t buy
Vonage Works on Patent Work-Around
Vonage reported progress today on working around two of the three Verizon patents that a jury earlier this year found Vonage to have infringed. The first two patents concern "voice translation" and the third involves wireless telephones, which Vonage says fewer than 10 percent of its customers use. According to the company’s press release:
Plan to Gain Market Share Lacked Causal Connection to Price Increase, Sixth Circuit Holds
The Sixth Circuit today upheld a summary judgment for a drug manufacturer on a claim, under Sherman Act section 2, that the manufacturer parlayed a program for increasing its market share into a price increase on Premarin, its estrogen replacement drug. The monopolization claim failed, the court concluded, because plaintiffs didn’t present evidence that the
Harvard Says It Sucks
John Harvard — with a garland briefer than a girl’s.
The NYT just reported what we all knew — that Harvard does a piss poor job of teaching the bright (and often brilliant) 18-year-olds who decide to spend four undergraduate years in Cambridge. And, as a task force disclosed in January, some of the
Please Release Me, Let Me Go
The Supreme Court of Delaware today reversed a court of chancery order that dismissed a case because a party failed to hire counsel who would commit not to seek withdrawal under any circumstances. The trial court berated the plaintiffs for their "torpor" and "inexcusable torpor" in prosecuting their derivative case. And, in grudgingly granting their
Federal Circuit Applies KSR v. Teleflex to Invalidate “Obvious” Patent Claim
For the first time since the Supreme Court handed down KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., No. 04-1350 (U.S. Apr. 30, 2007) (post with opinion link here), the Federal Circuit today considered a question of patent invalidity under the KSR test for "obviousness". The district court rendered its decision without the benefit of
IBM v. amazon.com Patent Fight Bids Adieu to Lufkin, Texas
Last October, IBM — the biggest holder of U.S. Patents — charged Amazon.com with patent infringement in Lufkin, Texas. Today, the two announced a settlement, disclosing only that they kissed and made up "for an undisclosed amount of money paid to IBM and a long-term patent cross-license agreement." Story here, press release here.
Ugly Decision: Ninth Circuit Punts “Aesthetic” Question to California Supreme Court
How about one of these in your neighborhood?
The Ninth Circuit today asked the California Supreme Court to tell it whether the hideousness of wireless transmission towers and the like authorizes a Golden State municipality to deny a wireless carrier’s application to put those ugly things in a public right of way. The court actually
In re DRAM Price-Fixing: The Sun Also Re-Rises
Ernest Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises (1926).
On April 9, Blawgletter reported the dismissal of the complaint by Sun Microsystems and Unisys against dynamic random access memory chips for price fixing. We also predicted that Sun and Unisys would "need every minute" of the 30 days (until May 4) that the district court allowed
Credit Reporting Agency Not Liable for False Credit Report, Ninth Circuit Holds 2-1
A Ninth Circuit panel today exonerated a credit reporting agency that included false information in a consumer’s credit report. The 2-1 court held that Experian made an adequate investigation after Jason Dennis notified it that he did not, in fact, suffer a civil judgment against him. Experian’s contractor looked only at the civil court’s "Register"