Strategies for Improving Your Firm's Profitability
This article describes several strategies that managing partners and administrators should consider so that firms may help improve their profitability.
FL Jury Finds Domestic Distributor of Chinese Drywall Negligent
On June 18, a Florida jury awarded $2.46 million to a Miami couple who claimed their house was ruined by gas emitted by imported Chinese drywall in the nation's first trial against a domestic distributor.
IP News
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.
Features
The Toyota Recall Crisis: More Than a Re-TREAD
If this were an article about Toyota's actions and inactions, it could stop here. But it is really about the proposed "Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010." This legislation, engendered by the Toyota recalls, makes TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and Documentation Act)sem minor by comparison.
Features
Patent Correction: Navigating the Confusing Terrain of Broadening Reissue
There are times when a patent owner may discover that an issued patent does not claim everything that the patent should have covered. When such defects are discovered, one strategy a patent owner may wish to consider is filing a request with the USPTO for a broadened reissue of a U.S. patent to enlarge the scope of the claims of the original patent.
Features
Practice Tip: Twombly and Iqbal Are Everywhere
The impact of <i>Twombly</i> and <i>Iqbal</i> on the pleading standard in federal motions to dismiss has been well documented during the last several years. This article examines the impact that these important cases have had when fraudulent joinder becomes an issue.
Korean War Memorial Copyright Infringed By U.S. Postal Service
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held the U.S. Postal Service liable for copyright infringement for its use on a postage stamp of an image of a number of sculptures created by Frank Gaylord for the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
Establishing Diversity in Medical Device Litigation
A medical device manufacturer served with a product liability lawsuit in state court often prefers to be in federal court, but diversity jurisdiction requirements cannot be met because a local hospital that purchased the device and supplied it for use on the plaintiff-patient is a non-diverse co-defendant.
Features
A Madness to the Method? The Impact of Bilski on Method Patents
For more than a year, the software/information technology, financial, and even biotech industries, along with the patent bar, waited for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of business methods and patent-eligible subject matter under ' 101 of the Patent Act. In its recent decision in <i>Bilski v. Kappos</i>, the Supreme Court provided an answer for the business method claimed by Bilski, but not a lot of detailed guidance for future cases.
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- Abandoned and Unused Cables: A Hidden Liability Under the 2002 National Electric CodeIn an effort to minimize the release of toxic gasses from cables in the event of fire, the 2002 version of the National Electric Code ("NEC"), promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association, sets forth new guidelines requiring that abandoned cables must be removed from buildings unless they are located in metal raceways or tagged "For Future Use." While the NEC is not, in itself, binding law, most jurisdictions in the United States adopt the NEC by reference in their state or local building and fire codes. Thus, noncompliance with the recent NEC guidelines will likely mean that a building is in violation of a building or fire code. If so, the building owner may also be in breach of agreements with tenants and lenders and may be jeopardizing its fire insurance coverage. Even in jurisdictions where the 2002 NEC has not been adopted, it may be argued that the guidelines represent the standard of reasonable care and could result in tort liability for the landlord if toxic gasses from abandoned cables are emitted in a fire. With these potential liabilities in mind, this article discusses: 1) how to address the abandoned wires and cables currently located within the risers, ceilings and other areas of properties, and 2) additional considerations in the placement and removal of telecommunications cables going forward.Read More ›
- Guidance on Distributions As 'Disbursements' and U.S. Trustee FeesIn a recent case from the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, In re Paragon Offshore PLC, the bankruptcy court provided guidance on whether a post-plan effective date litigation trust's distributions constituted disbursements subject to the U.S. Trustee fee "tax."Read More ›