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.
Building a Successful Women's Initiative
Law firms across the country continue to struggle with the recruitment, retention and advancement of women. The findings of multiple national surveys consistently show that women make up almost half of all law school graduating classes, yet they account for less than 20% of the partners in most large law firms.
Features
Policing Workplace e-Mail Use
On-the-job Internet surfing has become a problem that employers can no longer ignore. A recent Office of Inspector General investigation, for example, revealed that senior-level SEC staff, including an attorney, used their workplace computers to view online pornography for up to eight hours per day during the period of time that led this country's biggest economic meltdown since the Great Depression.
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- Surveys in Patent Infringement Litigation: The Next FrontierMost experienced intellectual property attorneys understand the significant role surveys play in trademark infringement and other Lanham Act cases, but relatively few are likely to have considered the use of such research in patent infringement matters. That could soon change in light of the recent admission of a survey into evidence in <i>Applera Corporation, et al. v. MJ Research, Inc., et al.</i>, No. 3:98cv1201 (D. Conn. Aug. 26, 2005). The survey evidence, which showed that 96% of the defendant's customers used its products to perform a patented process, was admitted as evidence in support of a claim of inducement to infringe. The court admitted the survey into evidence over various objections by the defendant, who had argued that the inducement claim could not be proven without the survey.Read More ›
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