Features

False Claims and Private Equity: The Government's Increasing Focus on Private Equity Firms in False Claims Act Cases
The health care industry continues to hold great potential for private equity (PE) firms, but it also carries with it significant risks and potential exposure to liability. As the pressure to find opportunities has increased, there appears to be a greater appetite for riskier investments including into portfolio companies that experienced or are experiencing compliance challenges.
Features

Preserved Farmland Really Is for Farming
The Appellate Division, Second Department, recently decided <i>Long Island Pine Barrens Society, Inc. v. Suffolk County Legislature,</i> an important case that pitted the interests of farmers and conservationists against a local advocacy group focused on open space and water quality.
Features

De Havilland's Loss in Docudrama Portrayal Suit
The California Court of Appeal created some First Amendment breathing room for the creators of docudramas — at the expense of legendary actress Olivia de Havilland — when the court ordered her suit against FX Networks over its Emmy Award-winning miniseries Feud be stricken under California's anti-SLAPP law, even if it did play a little fast-and-loose with de Havilland's character.
Features

Federal Circuit Reinstates Oracle's Copyright Infringement Claims Against Google, Rejecting Fair Use Defense
On March 27, 2018, in <i>Oracle America, Inc. v. Google LLC</i>, the Federal Circuit overturned a jury verdict in favor of Google from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In doing so, the court revived Oracle's claim that Google's use of Oracle's open-source Java language code did not constitute “fair use.”
Features

Challenging Disproportionate Forfeitures
<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>In <i>Honeycutt v. United States</i>, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that a federal criminal forfeiture statute permits joint and several liability for criminal asset forfeiture judgments, thereby protecting defendants who were only marginally culpable for a larger offense.
Features

Co-Writer Files Royalties Suit Against Iglesias
The title of Julio Iglesias's hit song “Me Olvide de Vivir” translates to “I Had Forgotten to Live.” But a Miami songwriter's copyright infringement lawsuit suggests the only thing the famed crooner “forgot” was to pay his collaborator.
Columns & Departments
Real Property Law
Broker Agreed to Commission Based on Rent for First Five Years of Lease<br>Statements in Earlier Action Did Not Accelerate Mortgage and Trigger Statute of Limitations<br>Death Does Not Extend Foreclosure Limitations Period<br>Neighbor Granted Statutory Licence to Paint Fence<br>Record Did Not Establish Conveyance of Easement<br>Co-Tenant Entitled to Partition
Features

Supreme Court Eyes Relaxing Rule on Foreign Patent Damages
<b><i>Despite Possibility of 'Chaos,' Presumption Against Extraterritorial Application May Give Way to Simple Proximate Cause Test, Justices Suggest</b></i><p>The U.S. Supreme Court seemed to be mulling a flexible test for foreign patent damages last month, with the categorical presumption against extraterritoriality taking a back seat.
Features

The Growing Risk of Providing Oral Summaries
<b><i>Preserving Privilege in the Wake of SEC v. Herrera and the Government's Increasing Leverage to Obtain Such Disclosures</b></i><p>A Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida held that an “oral download” of outside counsel's interview notes to the SEC resulted in a limited waiver of protection under the attorney work-product doctrine over the underlying interview notes and memoranda. The decision is a significant one, and underscores one of the core challenges facing companies seeking to cooperate with the government during the course of its investigations.
Columns & Departments
Development
Town Entitled To Injunctive Relief for Violation of Certificate of Occupancy
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