Features

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a case of first impression, ruled that when the patent at issue is a standard essential patent (SEP) and its owner is subject to an obligation to license that patent on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms, the jury instructions must discuss the specific obligations of that patentee and not RAND commitments in general.

The Supreme Court, recently settled an important question on the valuation of loan collateral and, at the opposite end of the complexity spectrum, it addressed restitution under the Violence Against Women Act for possession of child pornography, generating multiple dissents, and offering at least a flavor of how the justices might be inclined to approach the general restitution statutes.

Columns & Departments

Discussion of two key rulings.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 scratched the surface of the looming battle over state taxation of Internet retailers and seemed troubled by what it saw.

Features

Internet use has changed the way medication purchases are regulated, due in part to patients' free access to information related to pharmaceutical products and medical care. Consequently, pharmaceutical manufacturers sponsor Internet links to promote direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising via the Internet, with sales sites one click away.

Features

For law firms to get smart about bidding on work, they need a legal management infrastructure with deep knowledge and understanding of their matters, staffing resources, billing rates and spending data. This business intelligence (BI), goes beyond a stand-alone matter management application.

Although, generally, there must be a physician-patient or a hospital-patient relationship for a legal duty of care to exist upon which liability may be founded, in some situations, health care providers may be held liable to someone other than a patient.

Features

This article focuses on sequenced discovery ' an underutilized tool that permits courts to focus initial discovery on general causation. Sequenced discovery front-loads the issue of general causation and prevents plaintiffs from dragging out litigation without having been put to the test of proving that the product at issue can cause the alleged injury.