<i>Simkin v. Blank</i>, a jarring Supreme Court decision, poses devastating consequences for divorcing couples who, unaware of Bernard Madoff's criminal enterprise, relied upon the accuracy of fraudulently generated portfolio statements.
Two isolated genes closely associated with breast and ovarian cancer are unpatentable, a federal judge ruled in March. This article presents an analysis of the case.
There is, as yet, no consensus on whether defense counsel in medical malpractice proceedings have the right to interview plaintiffs' treating physicians through ex parte interviews to which plaintiffs and their counsel are not invited.
The recent decision of the Second Circuit in connection with the appeal in <i>Tiffany (NJ) Inc. and Tiffany & Company v. eBay, Inc.</i> represents a thorough and well-considered exploration of the basis for finding secondary liability in the electronic marketplace for those who facilitate the sale of infringing goods without ever selling the goods and, conversely, the way for the maker of the marketplace to avoid liability for infringements by those who sell on its site.
In Association for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York invalidated patents related to isolated BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes. The surprising aspect of the decision was the reason for invalidity ' the district court held that the isolated genes did not constitute patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. ' 101.
In pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, the failure-to-warn claim continues to be among the most common causes of action. This article examines some of the key factors involved in proving causation in a failure-to-warn case, and discusses recent case law in this area.
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
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.
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.
