Does 'Cooperation' Obscure the Truth?
Nowadays more than ever, accusations of business crime must be put to the test, since the stakes in this post-Enron era are at an all-time high for an accused company's survival and its executives' personal liberty and reputation. The way we test allegations in Anglo-American law is through the adversary system. Yet, just when it's needed the most, the adversary system is increasingly sidelined. For the public company, adversarialism may no longer be an option at all.
Is Bribing Foreign Tax Collectors a Federal Crime?
Just when there appears to be a significant uptick in investigations for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Fifth Circuit has issued a decision that sows further confusion over the meaning of the FCPA's criminal prohibitions.
Drug Importation Task Force Completes Its Listening Sessions
Over the past few months, the Task Force on Drug Importation has held its so-called "listening sessions" with groups and individuals that would be impacted by drug importation, should it be legalized. At the meetings, U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona served as the chairman over a panel of representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as from other departments of the federal government with an interest in drug importation issues (see sidebar on page 5). The task force's members are being asked to offer recommendations to Health and Human Services' Secretary Tommy Thompson by December 2004 concerning how best to address key questions posed by Congress as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug Act, such as how drugs can safely be imported, what the impact of such imports would be on incentives to drug research and development, and how much the policing of imports would cost the government.
NYC Alleges Pharmaceutical Companies Manipulated the System
The City of New York filed three lawsuits in May against drug manufacturers it claims overcharged it for pharmaceuticals. The suits, brought in three district courts, claim that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Purdue Pharma L.P. kept prices artificially high on pain reliever OxyContin', antidepressant Paxil', and antibiotic Augmentin' by using false and misleading methods to extend their drugs' patents.
Case Briefing
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
A Primer on IP Insurance Options
In the last several years, a number of insurance companies including Chubb, AIG, InsureTrust (through Lloyd's of London), Venture Programs, Intellectual Property Risk Management ("IPRM"), and Litigation Risk Management, Inc. ("LRM") have begun offering insurance that pays costs associated with infringement of patents only, or infringement of some combination or all of patents, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights and trade secrets. For purposes of this article we will refer to these polices as "IP infringement policies." IP infringement policies vary by carrier and property covered. The following descriptions are necessarily general.
Defending Against Post-Sale Warning Claims
An unusual twist in the typical product liability case can occur when a plaintiff asserts a post-sale warning claim. (In this article, "product" does not refer to consumer products that are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.) Because a post-sale warning claim is not frequently encountered, such a claim can cause confusion, especially with respect to the relation between the post-sale warning claim and the other claims that a plaintiff is asserting.
Legislative Solutions to Toxic Torts: Congress and the Thimerosal and Asbestos Litigations Part One of a Two-Part Series
Over the course of the last 2 years, Congress has tried to find a legislative solution to two very different alleged toxic torts. In November 2002, a rider was attached to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 that would have effectively brought one of the most recent toxic tort litigations ' the thimerosal litigation ' to an abrupt end. Throughout the spring and summer of 2003, Congress tried to establish a $115 billion national trust fund for perhaps the largest and oldest and possibly most abused toxic tort litigation ' the asbestos litigation. Neither of these attempts, for very different reasons, was successful ' the thimerosal rider was repealed in early 2003 and in November 2003, the Senate decided not to vote on the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2003. What follows is an overview of those legislative initiatives.
