If you’ve thought about filing a business lawsuit in federal court or you have one underway already, you’ll probably want to read about two still-in-process studies by Columbia University and Harvard University law school professors on how the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts (2005-present) has treated business lawsuits, and how that treatment
summary judgment
Michael Jackson Estate Beats $44 Million Manager Claim
When can "newly discovered evidence" save you from a bad outcome, even after the time for appeal has expired?
Rarely, the D.C. Circuit ruled on May 13.
Too rarely, Blawgletter thinks.
Wanna Be Startin' Sometin'
The D.C. Circuit's decision came in a case by one of Michael Jackson's last managers, Raymone K. Bain. Bain brought…
Nuveen Loses Bond Case Over Loss Causation
Do federal securities laws make your head hurt?
Sometimes they cause Blawgletter's synapses to misfire.
Take today. In Nuveen Municipal High Income Opportunity Fund v. City of Alameda, No. 11-17391 (9th Cir. Sept. 19, 2013), the ruling turned on what our securities-lawyer friends call "loss causation". Which they contrast with "transaction causation".
Stay with…
Marking Items with Patent Number, Paying Royalties Support Infringement Claim
Wilson Sporting Goods put the number of Jack L. Frolow's tennis racket patent on 14 models of its tennis rackets. It also paid Frolow royalties on 299 racket models. Yet the district court granted Wilson summary judgment on the theory that Frolow hadn't put forward any evidence that the rackets infringed his patent.
The Federal…
Spoliation, Shmoliation?
A brigantine making sail — perhaps to escape spoliation.
Have you noticed how many e-discovery pros have e-merged in the last decade to offer e-services? Some promise low, low prices, vow super se-cure review platforms in the cloud, and guarantee nearly-omniscient pre-dictive coding software? They call, text, or e-mail you e-very day.
You may treat…
Reissue Patents Fell Within License of Original Patents, Federal Circuit Holds
Way back when, a long time ago, Company X granted Company Y a broad license to some of Company's X's patents. Let's call them the "Original Patents".
Company X later assigns the Original Patents to Company Z. But Company Z thinks the Original Patents didn't go far enough in making claims to the subject matter of the…
Quote of the Day: Raymond M. Kethledge
When a party comes to us with nine grounds for reversing the district court, that usually means there are none.
Fifth Third Mortg. Co. v. Chicago Title Ins. Co., No. 11-3795, slip op. at 1 (6th Cir. Aug. 30, 2012) (Kethledge, J.) (affirming summary judgment against title insurer whose agent defrauded lender
Sales of Fake Handbags Earn $3.5 Million Trademark Award — on Summary Judgment
Blawgletter marvels at the audacity of people who make, import, and sell knock-offs of famous brands of what you call luxury goods — mostly purses and watches but lots of other high-end, show-off stuff, too.
We suspect they know that the wages of their trademark rip-off sin will run steep — but only if Louis…
Seventh Circuit Okays Remand of MDL Cases After Summary Judgment Rulings
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation lives mainly to decide whether to group cases from around the country into big mega-cases for pretrial work — motions to dismiss, discovery, summary judgment motions — and, if so, which district judge to send each of the mega-cases to.
But what happens when the "transferee" judge finishes the…
Absolute Gets Drop on Stealth in Laptop “LoJack” Patent Fight
Your mom asked you, when you told her you'd lost something, "where'd you see it last?" Right? And it worked? Maybe not right away but soon. Yes?
The folks at Absolute Software and Stealth Signal tried to save you from your mom's loving disdain by coming up with ways to track laptops that someone had…