LJN Newsletters

  • Licensees May Challenge a Patent Without Breaching License: The Supreme Court's Decision in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc.

    'We hold that petitioner was not required, insofar as Article III is concerned, to break or terminate its 1997 license agreement before seeking a declaratory judgment in federal court that the underlying patent is invalid, unenforceable, or not infringed.'With this language, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its 8-1 landmark decision in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., reversing the holding of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ('Federal Circuit'). This decision has potentially wide-ranging ramifications for patent licensing.

    January 31, 2007Benjamin Hershkowitz and Scott Kolassa

  • Supreme Court Revisits Test for Deciding Obviousness

    The U.S. Supreme Court has recently shown an interest in intellectual property in general and patents in particular. Most prominent among the recent cases is KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., which presents perhaps the most difficult question in substantive patent law: When is the subject of a patent application a true 'invention' ' that is, something that promotes the progress of a useful art sufficient to warrant giving the applicant exclusive rights to the technology claimed for the next 20 years. Conversely, when is the invention 'obvious' ' merely taking a step that anyone of ordinary skill would take, confronted with the same problem and possessing all the knowledge already known to the field?

    January 31, 2007Elizabeth Rader and Thomas Goldstein

  • Drug Companies and Failure to Warn

    For more than one year, product liability cases have been pending against Merck's osteoporosis drug, Fosamax'. Despite having one of the highest side effect profiles of any drug in the U.S. prescription database, Fosamax remains on the market, and available by prescription. When a drug remains on the market during litigation but the manufacturer refuses to warn about a known risk, places the information about the risk in an obscure location or provides inadequate information about the severity of the risk, there is a public problem ' for both patients and prescribers alike ' in the form of a health hazard about which most prescribers have insufficient information.

    January 31, 2007Tim O'Brien

  • News Briefs

    Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.

    January 31, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

  • Med Mal Litigation

    Risk-managing one's medical practice involves gauging the quality of the legal advocacy put forth to advance a physician's professional interests. In medical malpractice litigation, as we all know, victory is fleeting but setbacks are long-lasting. Therefore, as an attorney, expect to be evaluated with an eagle eye ' and respond to your client's fears with professionalism and reassurance.

    January 31, 2007Kevin Quinley

  • Court Watch

    Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.

    January 31, 2007Cynthia Klaus, Jon S. Swierzewski, and Sejal Desai Winkelman

  • Litigation: Paternity and Child Support

    Putative father could obtain relief under state statute that granted a substantive, not procedural, right to address potential injustice. The State Ex rel. Loyd, v. Lovelady, 108 Ohio St.3d 86 (Ohio 2006).

    January 31, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

  • Getting Ahead of the Legal Curve

    When societal trends arise, new laws and regulations are sure to follow. Franchises have a choice of making changes as the trends evolve, or waiting until lawmakers and, perhaps, courts force their hands.

    January 31, 2007Kevin Adler

  • Survey Data: What They Tell Us; What They Don't

    We can think of no form of information that cannot be misused ' either deliberately by the manipulative, or inadvertently by the inept. Survey data are no exception. As psychologists, it is with some reluctance that we offer commentary on the relative merits of different standards for the admissibility of expert testimony, but our experiences in different states have heightened our awareness of how different standards affect the admissibility of testimony offered by psychologists in child custody litigation.

    January 31, 2007David A. Martindale, and James N. Bow

  • Effects of Hernandez Reach Beyond New York

    The New York Court of Appeals' July, 2006 ruling in Hernandez v. Robles has had implications beyond its core holding that same-sex couples may not marry in New York ' and beyond New York. Courts from Washington to Nebraska to Massachusetts have cited Hernandez to support their decisions to narrow or restrict the rights of gays to marry.

    January 31, 2007Mark Fass