Snappy reclines. The Empire State Building looms in the mid-distance. Bitey consults his notes. He clears his throat.
Bitey: The U.S. Supreme Court's summer break started last week, Snaps, and the time has come for us to look at the . . . uh . . . results of the 2012-13 Term for those commercial cases
A 5-4 Supreme Court today ruled that the Constitution forbids the federal government from refusing to recognize same-sex marriages. United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307 (U.S. June 26, 2013).
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the Court. Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan, and Sotomayor joined him.
Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Scalia, and Thomas dissented.
Under Title VII, an employer’s liability for [racial] harassment [at work] may depend on the status of the harasser. If the harassing employee is the victim’s co-worker, the employer is liable only if it was negligent in controlling working conditions. In cases in which the harasser is a "supervisor," however, different rules apply. If the
The owner of a patent on a brand-name drug sues a competitor for infringing the patent. The parties settle. But the infringer doesn't pay. The patent-owner does. Why? In return for the competitor's agreement not to compete during the rest of the patent's term.
Four of our 13 courts of appeals held that such a "reverse
Last week, a 9-0 Supreme Court ruled that human genes do not count as patent-eligible subject matter but that fake genes with some DNA missing may. Ass'n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., No. 12-398, slip op. 12 (U.S. June 13, 2013) ("Groundbreaking, innovative, or even brilliant discovery does not by itself satisfy
Farmers plant seeds. Where do they get the seeds? Lots of places. Their own crops. Farmer Crawford up the road. Bean sellers. Monsanto. And so on.
What if the seeds use a technique that someone — Monsanto, say — has taken out a patent on? Can you use seeds from a crop that you or
The wise thing for me to say . . . is that I don't have evidence to contradict it.
David Ingram, "Q&A: Plaintiffs' Lawyer Barry Barnett on the Comcast class action", Thomson Reuters News & Insight, May 13, 2013 (referring to "the academic study spotlighted in The New York Times that found
At the end of the one of the Best Movies Ever, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) drives with her young daughter towards safety down a Los Angeles street. Will they escape? Yes, we think they just might!
A Los Angeles police lieutenant (Perry Lopez) steps onto the pavement. He aims his pistol and fires. Mulwray's car
To Blawgletter's eye, a complaint that alleges patent infringement bears itself with a certain elegance. Such a pleading often runs but several pages, and in substance it states that the Bad Guy defendant does some thing or things that infringe the Good Person plaintiff's patent. And Form 18 — which appears with its brothers and
