Seven justices today rejected an attempt to make patents easier for judges and juries to find invalid. The Court held that Congress's granting patents a presumption of validity saves patents unless their foes prove a basis for invalidity with "clear and convincing" evidence. Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. Partnership, No. 10-290 (U.S. June 9
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Slams Fifth Circuit Test for Securities Class Actions
By Barry Barnett on
The U.S. Supreme Court today reversed a Fifth Circuit decision that required plaintiffs in federal securities cases to prove "loss causation" at the class certification stage. Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton, Inc., No. 09-1403 (U.S. June 6, 2011).
As Blawgletter noted a couple months ago, the Fifth and Seventh Circuit had…
The Antitrust Lawyer’s Guide to the Supreme Court’s No-Antitrust Term
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter just wrote a paper for an American Bar Association newsletter. It starts thus:
You know that the Supreme Court took no antitrust cases in its (current) October 2010 Term, right? You feel either sad (defense lawyer) or happy (plaintiff side), yes? We’ll have no Twombly,[1] no Leegin,[2] no Weyerhaeuser…
Quote of the Day: John Glover Roberts, Jr.
By Barry Barnett on
We trust that AT&T won't take it personally.
Federal Communications Comm'n v. AT&T Inc., No. 09-1279, slip op. 12 (U.S. Mar. 1, 2011) (Roberts, C.J.) (holding, 8-0, that "personal privacy" in exemption from Freedom of Information Act means privacy of an individual and not privacy of a Fortune 100 company); see posts on the …
The Relevance of Scienter to Securities Fraud Limitations Analysis — Redux
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter wrote a couple of years ago that the tougher test for pleading securities fraud under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308 (2007), "would logically mean that the reasonable person wouldn't conclude he, she, or it had a claim until he-she-it learned facts suggesting…
Supreme Court Looks Doubtful on “Personal Privacy” of False Persons
By Barry Barnett on
In September of 2009, a court of appeals panel upheld the right of firms — and of all other "persons" fictitious in law — to block the feds' release of emails and other documents that the firms submitted to the feds but that might cast them in a bad light. See "Do Fake Persons…
Rate Hike Didn’t Change Credit Terms, Supreme Court Holds
By Barry Barnett on
Your credit card comes with Terms and Conditions. You've never read them. But they include, somewhere around page 18, a warning that if you make any payment late, the card issuer has the right, if it wants, to increase the interest rate that applies to your Outstanding Balance. And it may do so retroactively. Without…
Going Mano-a-Monorail: Tort Liability for Bum Design Advice
By Barry Barnett on
You may recall, as Blawgletter fondly does, a Simpsons episode featuring a monorail that an itinerant huckster — Lyle Lanley — convinced the good people of Springfield to buy for $3 million. The money came from a fine the town assessed against power plant owner C. Montgomery Burns for dumping nuclear waste.
The decision to invest in…
Will California’s Fondness for Class Actions Survive Concepcion? (Thomas Update)
By Barry Barnett on
California law favors class actions. So much so that Golden State courts have struck down class-action bans that show up in consumer contracts whether they apply to lawsuits, Discover Bank v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, 113 P.2d 1100 (Cal. 2005), or arbitration cases, America Online v. Superior Court, 108 Cal. Rptr. 2d 699…
Argument Transcripts in Costco and Concepcion
By Barry Barnett on
The Supreme Court has posted the oral argument transcripts in the two business cases we wrote about a few days ago (post here):
Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S.A., No. 08-1423 (U.S.)
AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, No. 09-893 (U.S.)