Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
<i>In Re Seagate, LLC</i>
For 24 years, the most effective way to defend against a charge of willful infringement has been to rely on the 'advice-of-counsel' defense; i.e., to assert that you consulted with, and relied upon, a competent opinion of counsel finding that there was no infringement of any valid claim of the patent at issue. Underwater Devices, Inc. v. Morrison-Knudsen Co., 717 F.2d 1380 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (setting forth the duty-of-care standard).
The advice-of-counsel defense to willful infringement led to a harsh reality ' an accused infringer had two choices: 1) produce a written opinion and waive the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product related to the subject matter of the opinion; or 2) not produce an opinion so as not to waive the privilege and work product, but be virtually defenseless to willful infringement, because no opinion is produced. Until three years ago, the choice not to waive the privilege or to forgo an opinion also subjected an accused infringer to an adverse inference that an opinion was unfavorable. See Knorr-Bremse Systeme Fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH v. Dana Corp., 383 F.3d 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (en banc decision rejecting the adverse inference rule). The Federal Circuit's ruling in Knorr-Bremse seemed to be an attempt to temper the harsh result of the duty-of-care standard. Interestingly, Judge Timothy B. Dyk, as the lone dissenter in Knorr-Bremse, called for eliminating the duty-of-care requirement as a factor in the willfulness and enhanced damages analysis, calling it a 'relic of the past.' Id. at 1352.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?