April 2012 Archives

Do vaccines cause illness in children? If a parent believes that his or her child has been injured by a vaccine, is there a legal remedy?

In recent consolidated cases before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, parents sued the Secretary for Health and Human Services for illnesses they claim were caused by the administration of vaccines to their respective daughters.

The parents sought compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, alleging that DTaP (Diptheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis) caused their daughters’ seizure-related illnesses.

Attention patent lawyers: Botch your patent application and you could be sued for malpractice in federal court.

That’s what the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has to say about a patent malpractice case involving large law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Brockius.

Tax day was earlier this week and a recent case before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals came out just in time, elaborating the prerequisites of bringing a refund claim.

As with most tax claims that reach the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the case doesn’t break down tax issues as much as it talks about appellate procedure in tax cases.

Today, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held in favor of Cephalon in a patent case involving the muscle relaxant drug, Amrix.

The Federal Circuit Court ruling reversed and vacated the lower court ruling which found the two patents invalid as obvious.

Don’t mess with the iPad. Apple takes their tablets and smartphones seriously. And they don’t want competition.

Apple has tried unsuccessfully to block competitor Samsung from selling their smartphones and tablets, accusing them of patent infringement. Now, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing arguments in the iPad patent infringement case.

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated two patents held by Paris-based Sanofi. In a ruling earlier this week, the appellate court concluded that the patents on the Taxotere cancer treatment drug were invalid.

The patents in question are patent numbers 5,714,512 and 5,750,561.

The ruling upholds a lower court ruling invalidating the patents and holding them unenforceable. The reasoning behind the lower court decision was that Sanofi obtained the patents improperly, reports Reuters.

Registering a trademark isn’t as easy as it sounds. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States recently fought for the right to register the service mark “National Chamber” but were met with resistance from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

The reason for the resistance? TTAB claimed that the service mark “National Chamber” was too descriptive of the services offered in connection with the mark, in violation of 15 USC 1052.

As a matter of law, certain military workers are entitled to 15 days of military leave each year to attend training. These days cannot be charged against non-workdays. As a result, it’s common practice for these military workers to file claims seeking compensation for military leave charged on those non-working days. These claims are known as Butterbaugh claims, after the case Butterbaugh v. Dep’t of Justice.

It’s exactly this type of claim that Nyles Duncan attempted to assert before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. He argued that the Air Force — his civilian employer — had charged him military leave on non-work days in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).