The U.S. Supreme Court has taken away a potentially devastating defense from companies that induce others to infringe patents.
The Court ruled in Commil USA, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., No. 13-896, slip op. at 10 (U.S. May 26, 2015), that "a defendant's belief regarding patent validity" does not provide "a defense to a
Focus on substance over procedure
The Supreme Court just vacated a judgment that enforced a six-year statute of limitations against beneficiaries of a employer savings plan.
The ruling reinforces the view that this Court feels little love for limitations defenses. It suggests the Court prefers getting to legal substance.
Claims under ERISA
The Employee Retirement
Policy debate
If a firm that performs steps A, B, and C of a "method" patent induces the firm's customers to take step D — the final one — does the firm infringe the patent?
The question — which a two-judge majority on a Federal Circuit panel answered no — produced 62 pages of opinions
Pre-emption? Ha!
A 7-2 split on the U.S. Supreme Court last week revived state-law antitrust claims against natural-gas pipelines. End-user (or retail) customers alleged that the pipelines conspired to rig index prices and thus inflate sales prices. The ruling gave narrow play to the pipelines' "field pre-emption" defense. The Court held that a federal agency's
False opinions
Giving a knowingly false opinion about a public company can expose the company and its insiders to liability for securities fraud under federal law.
But what about an opinion that they truly believe but for which they have a flimsy basis?
The Supreme Court held today that the lack of rigor may indeed
State action?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that a North Carolina board's ban on cheap teeth-whitening by non-dentists may expose the board's members to a federal antitrust claim despite the board's status as a creature of the state. N. Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC, No. 13-534 (U.S. Feb. 25, 2015).
The 6-3 Court stressed that the
Unanimous Court orders review of key district court ruling
The Second Circuit made a mistake when it refused to hear an appeal, the Supreme Court held 9-0 today in Gelboim v. Bank of Am. Corp., No. 13-1174 (U.S. Jan. 21, 2015); see Supreme Court Takes LIBOR Case, Blawgletter®, July 1, 2014.
The Court's ruling will
The U.S. Supreme Court held 8-2 today that the Federal Circuit may no longer ignore some rulings by trial court judges on how to construe patent claims. The outcome marks a major victory for parties that win the often-decisive battles over claim construction in Markman hearings in district court.
Another patent just failed the Supreme Court's airy test for unpatentable "abstract ideas".
A whiter shade of pale
Patents that define ways to make money through commerce on the Internet never have gotten much respect.
In the last year, a series of rulings by the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court bled much of the remaining color out of the "business
Time to assess Twombly
Has the United States Supreme Court backed away from its landmark toughening of the test for pleading a claim in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007)?
Seven years after Blawgletter said that "[w]e'll save our assessment of [Twombly's] impact until the impact becomes clearer", we can now