In Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., issued on June 2, 2014, the Supreme Court established a new legal test to determine whether a patent claim satisfies the definiteness requirement of 35 U.S.C. Section 112 ...
International infringers are notoriously difficult litigants to get in touch with; all too often the methods of service routinely available in the United States to serve defendants and bring them into court to halt infringement fail when exported overseas. The defendants in these cases often have little incentive to cooperate with either the court or whatever physical mechanism or service might be available in their jurisdiction ...
At the turn of the 21st century, various high-ranking Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials stated that the Federal Trade Commission Act does not create requirements for what data-security measures companies must enact to ensure that private information is protected. The FTC Act’s catch-all prohibition against “unfair” or “deceptive” acts or practices, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), was not believed to cover the data-breach and cyber security domain ...
A recent decision by the Florida Supreme Court is raising eyebrows among businesses and practitioners because it regards what constitutes a valid agreement to arbitrate, specifically, whether an arbitration clause written in English can be enforced against parties who do not speak the language. Given Florida’s diverse population, the opinion causes concern as some interpreted it to go against long-standing law that binds a signatory to a contract even if they did not fully understand it ...
The High Court recently issued 2 important judgments on the topic of bullying in the workplace. In the first case the plaintiff was successful and in the second case the plaintiff's claim failed. In the case of Una Ruffley v. the Board of Management of St. Anne's School (May 2014) a special needs assistant was awarded the sum of €255,276 in compensation and loss of earnings as a result of bullying which she suffered in the work place ...
The prolific growth in the use of social media has resulted in an increasing tension between employers and employees over social media account ownership. The crux of the issue is that employers are encouraging their employees to use social networking websites, whilst trying to claim that the contacts should remain confidential at the end of their employment ...
If you like having options in obtaining patent rights faster, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has been eager to please in the last decade. Expediting a patent application can be highly desirable since the average pendency from filing to issuance is about three years on average, and can be even longer in certain technology areas or if an appeal to the Patent Trial & Appeal Board is required ...
The European Commission published its proposal for a revised EU Pensions Directive on 27 March 2014. The revised Directive on the “activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (recast)” (known as“IORP II”) hopes to make those institutions “better governed, more transparent and increasing their cross-border activity, thereby strengthening the internal market” ...
An application to register the word mark BIMBO DOUGHNUTS as a Community Trade Mark (CTM) has been successfully opposed in the European courts. The ECJ upheld the General Court’s earlier decision that there is a likelihood of confusion between the word mark BIMBO DOUGHNUTS and a registered Spanish word mark, DOGHNUTS. (Bimbo SA v OHIM, Case C-591/12 P) ...
The Court of Appeal recently reviewed the scope of the duty of employees to mitigate their damages for lost salary pursuant to section 128(2) of the Act respecting labour standards (ARLS).1In this case, the Court of Appeal allowed in part the appeal of an employee following a decision of the Superior Court which had dismissed his motion for judicial review of two decisions of the Commission des relations du travail (CRT) ...
The Supreme Court of Canada has provided some important guidance regarding who qualifies as an “employee” under the British Columbia Human Rights Code in the case of McCormick v. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP 014 SCC 39). Mr. McCormick was an equity partner at Fasken. The Fasken Partnership Agreement required Mr. McCormick to divest his ownership in the partnership and retire at the end of the year in which he turned 65. Mr ...
An employer faces a difficult situation when a temporarily disabled employee who cannot perform his or her essential job functions requests an accommodation. This situation becomes significantly more complicated when the employee receives the “accommodation,” but never recovers enough to resume performing the essential job functions ...
THE FACTS The complainant, a non-unionized employee, was hired by McGill University (hereinafter the “University”) in 1987 to be a member of the administrative staff. After working as an administrative assistant since 1994, she was dismissed by the University on June 30, 2009 for fraud. The University’s administrative staff is subject to a Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), which also covers their employment conditions ...
On May 4, 2014 the Commission for Compensation and Royalties of the Israeli Patent Authority (the "Commission") rendered a decision relating to an employee's request to receive royalties for service inventions (the "Decision"). The Decision reduces the uncertainty that had surrounded the nature of an employee’s right to receive royalties for service inventions, and provides important guidelines for examining employee royalty waivers in agreements between employers and employees ...
The High Court considered whether amendments were valid despite the fact that the deeds of amendment had not been effectively executed. Background The Gleeds Retirement Benefits Scheme was established as a final salary scheme by a partnership in the Gleeds group in 1974. Over the years many amendments were made to the scheme, including amendments relating to equalisation, the introduction of two money purchase sections and closure to final salary benefit accrual ...
The Federal Circuit today overruled a federal district judge and held that Oracle’s API computer source code qualifies for copyright protection, potentially breathing new life into Oracle’s billion-dollar lawsuit against Google. Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc., Case No. 13-1021 (Fed. Cir. May 9, 2014) ...
The U.S. Supreme Court again unanimously reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, this time in two cases relating to attorney fees for patent infringement: Octane Fitness v. Icon Health & Fitness, No. 12-1184, and Highmark v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Sys., No. 12-1163. The Federal Circuit is now 0-3 in cases before the court so far this term, and it has persuaded a grand total of zero justices to support affirmance in any of those cases. See Medtronic v ...
Following the deportation by the Sri Lankan authorities of a British tourist because she had a Buddha tattoo on her arm, we look at the issue of tattoos in the workplace, and whether employers should, or indeed must, allow employees to have tattoos. What's the problem? The issue for the Sri Lankan authorities was the alleged insult to Buddhism caused by the tattoo ...
In a recent case, the EAT considered whether the fact that an employer had mistakenly invited an employee to a disciplinary meeting rather than a capability meeting was a material factor when considering its objective justification defence against a discrimination claim. The employee in question had been diagnosed with post-natal depression, a long-term disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, and was unable to return to work for the foreseeable future ...
Negotiations are part of our daily lives from an early age. From haggling with teachers over homework to agreeing terms for a new job – we all negotiate regularly throughout our lives. So why then can it be difficult to get some parties to start negotiating when it matters? Parties are unlikely to negotiate if they believe that they can force a better result at a lower cost ...
In our January 2014 bulletin, we provided an overview of the Quebec government’s action plan aimed at [Translation] “correcting and restoring the situation of pension plans”. Also in that bulletin, we noted that in February 2014, the government was planning to introduce the first bill designed to set up the restructuring process for municipal pension plans. The government made good on its promise ...
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has commenced consultation on the reviewed UK Corporate Governance Code. The Code, which sets out good practice for UK listed companies across a range of issues, is routinely reviewed every two years ...
In a pair of unanimous decisions issued today, the United States Supreme Court has substantially lowered the bar for the prevailing party’s recovery of attorneys’ fees under § 285 of the Patent Act. 35 U.S.C. § 285 provides that a prevailing party may recover attorneys’ fees in an “exceptional case ...
