Last month, the Supreme Court decided TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, which narrowed the definition of where a corporate defendant "resides" for the purpose of suing it for patent infringement. In doing so, it overturned the 1994 holding of the Federal Circuit of what constitutes proper venue in patent infringement cases. Federal law allows a Plaintiff to bring a patent infringement suit against a defendant in any district where one of two conditions are met ...
In an opinion issued last week, Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 559 U.S. __ (2010), the Supreme Court held that foreign plaintiffs cannot use the U.S. Securities laws to sue foreign issuers based on foreign stock purchases: a ruling that sounds the death knell for these so-called “foreign cubed” cases. Rejecting decades of lower-court case law on the extraterritorial reach of the U.S ...
The United States Supreme Court yesterday significantly limited the federal government’s ability to bring an action for civil penalties more than five years after the alleged misconduct occurred. In Gabelli v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Court held that the five-year limitations period governing most enforcement actions begins to run when the underlying violation occurred – not when the government discovered the violation ...
“Public service is a noble calling” that requires great sacrifice, often requiring public officials to surrender personal conveniences in favor of public business ...
Plaintiffs frequently bring class action claims for alleged statutory violations for which Congress has provided private rights of action and statutory damages. In many of these instances, plaintiffs do not allege any specific, tangible harm (such as monetary loss), but claim that the violation of these so-called “statutory rights” by itself constitutes injury-in-fact sufficient to satisfy standing requirements. This week, the Supreme Court held in Spokeo v ...
In what it described as “an easy decision,” the U.S. Supreme Court issued its eagerly anticipated decision in RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC et al. v. Amalgamated Bank 1 on May 29, 2012 ...
The United States Supreme Court recently held that a plaintiff need not show that a defendant willfully infringed the plaintiff's trademark as a requirement for recovering the defendant’s profits.Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Grp., Inc., No. 18-1233, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 2408, at *12-13 (U.S. Apr. 23, 2020). Romag Fasteners, Inc. sued Fossil, Inc ...
On Monday, March 26, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC v. Simmonds. The Court held that an alleged failure by a corporate insider to file a short-swing profit disclosure under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 does not indefinitely toll the two-year statute of limitations on another party’s claim for recovery of such profits under Section 16(b) ...
The Supreme Court recently held that a federal agency’s response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request could bar a later False Claims Act case based on the information disclosed. In Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk, 563 U.S. __ (2011),1 the Court held that a response to a FOIA request is a “public disclosure” in an “administrative report” under the False Claims Act ...
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that competitors may bring private suits alleging unfair competition under the Lanham Act based on misleading and deceptive food and beverage labels that are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), overruling a Ninth Circuit decision ...
The Supreme Court has issued Supreme Court Administrative Matter No. 20-12-01-SC (Re: Proposed Guidelines on the Conduct of Videoconferencing) dated December 9, 20201 (Court Videoconferencing Guidelines) to ensure that hearings via videoconferencing are conducted in an orderly manner and that the constitutional rights of the accused are protected ...
In Lloyd v Google, the Supreme Court denied claims for mere 'loss of control' and ruled against mass class actions for data claims. Here, Philip Tansley and Matthew MacLachlan consider the court's reasoning and the broader implications for such claims. Case In its landmark judgment today, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a representative class action brought on behalf of approximately 4 ...
When the Supreme Court accepted the cert petition to resolve a Circuit split regarding the False Claims Act’s statute of limitations when the government does not intervene, it created thepotential that the Court would extend the limitations periodfor private relators’ FCA actions. That is exactly what happened ...
InLagos v. United States, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that limits the ability of corporate victims of fraud to seek reimbursement of legal fees for internal investigations. The case began when GE Capital discovered that Sergio Lagos falsified numerous invoices for his company, which he used as collateral to obtain tens of millions of dollars in loans from GE Capital ...
The United States Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month in three important securities cases regarding the preemptive scope of the federal securities laws. At issue is the meaning of the phrase “in connection with the purchase or sale of a covered security” under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (“SLUSA”) ...
Confronted with three different standing tests applied by the Circuit courts to Lanham Act false advertising claims, the Supreme Court has answered the question of which test to apply: “None of the above.” In Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc., Slip op. March 25, 2014, Justice Scalia, writing for a unanimous Court, rejected each of the tests employed by the Circuits in favor of a “zone of interests” test ...
Under article 253(d) of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), when an association, partnership or corporation commits an act or omission that violates the Tax Code, the penalty "shall be imposed on the partner, president, general manager, branch manager, treasurer, officer-in-charge, and the employees responsible for the violation". This means that any of the persons enumerated may be criminally prosecuted for the corporation or partnership's criminal act or omission under the code ...
Prior to imposing, extending, or increasing any tax, a public agency must submit the tax to a vote of the electorate. However, public agencies need no such approval to impose certain types of fees. In Jacks v. City of Santa Barbara, the Supreme Court considered whether and when municipal franchise fees—fees charged to utilities and others for the use of public rights of way—constitute taxes requiring voter approval ...
On August 28, 2017, the California Supreme Court issued a 5-2 split decision in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland, S234148. The Court held that a revenue measure proposed by citizen initiative is not “imposed by local government," and does not trigger the procedural limitations of Article XIII C of the California Constitution,[1] as a result ...
On Jan. 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued an order blocking enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring (among other things) employers of 100 or more employees to require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or ensure unvaccinated employees are tested for COVID-19 weekly ...
On Jan. 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States lifted the injunction on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) vaccine mandate (Mandate).[1] Previously, injunctions were imposed by district courts in Missouri and Louisiana, and affirmed on appeal by the Eighth and Fifth Circuits, respectively, thereby prohibiting enforcement of the Mandate in 24 states ...
In a decision contrary to current Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) rules, the United States Supreme Court has found the mark BOOKING.COM as a whole is not generic and that combining a generic term with “.com” does not necessarily result in a composite term that also is generic. Background Booking.com B.V. (“Booking.com”) sought to federally register the mark BOOKING.COM, and related variations, for travel services ...
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 ...
As the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread across the world, we would like to reassure you that DFDL takes the needs and well-being of our clients, our people and local communities seriously. We have enacted plans across our offices to deliver uninterrupted service to our clients and we are monitoring the situation on a daily basis. All members of DFDL remain ready to serve client needs and DFDL offices remain open, when allowed by local authorities ...
Recent surveys have revealed the shocking statistic that 90% of breastfeeding mothers are forced to use a toilet or are not provided with a suitable space to express their breastmilk at work. We look at what employers can do to rectify this issue in order to offer the appropriate level of support to new mums. Returning to work following maternity leave can be a daunting prospect, particularly if this is the first time that an employee has been apart from their baby for long periods of time ...
