May 2012 Archives

The Department of Labor is supposed to be the watchdog for labor related legal issues in the U.S. but in this case, one of their former employees is accusing the Department of not practicing what they preach.

The case involves classic retaliation claims in connection with an employee's whistleblowing. Whistleblowers are protected under federal law but here, a whistleblower within the Department of Labor was let go, reports Reuters.

It’s graduation season and that means that it’s time for judges to be recognized at commencement ceremonies.

This year, two judges from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals have been recognized during commencement ceremonies: Judge Arthur J. Gajarsa and Chief Judge Randall R. Rader.

Apple has taken advantage of the latest Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in its favor.

Last week, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a district court erred when it decided that Apple didn’t sufficiently show a likelihood of success on the merits, so as to receive a preliminary injunction.

Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals came down with a ruling that would greatly affect the way several patent cases come out of the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

The court held that joinder will not be allowed in multi-defendant patent infringement cases, where the cases allege that the defendants violated the same patent.

Why does this affect the District Court in Texas, though? Because a large number of patent troll cases come out of Texas. In fact, a large number of patent cases, period, come out of Texas, due to the fact that many find the court amenable to the adjudication of patent cases (i.e., it's a favorable forum).

Last month, we talked about the oral arguments made in the Apple-Samsung lawsuit. Apple was trying to enjoin the sale of Samsung’s version of the iPad in the U.S.

Now, the verdict is in. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled on the Apple Samsung patent infringement lawsuit.

And what’s the court saying?

The vote is in for the Federal Circuit’s recipient of the Professionalism Award by the American Inns of Court.

The American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for 2012 goes to Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Timothy B. Dyk.

It’s not only high-tech and bio-tech companies that fight patent cases before financial services industry. But if you read many of the posts on this blog, you’ll notice that most of the patent cases we talk about come from either of those two industries.

So today for a change, we bring you a patent case from the world of Wall Street. Or close enough. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) is facing patent infringement claims by the International Securities Exchange (ISE) over a system used for trading options contracts, reports Bloomberg News.

Last week, we reported on a patent malpractice case that was brought in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The Federal Circuit, while the proper court for patent infringement cases, can also be the proper court to bring an action for malpractice in patent law.

The law firm of Gibbons P.C. was sued in the Federal Circuit by Herman Minkin and H&M Aeronaut Tool Company, Inc. The plantiffs’ alleged that the law firm committed legal malpractice in prosecuting the patent application for a hand tool called “extended reach pliers.”

It’s not easy to win a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. ZapMedia has learned this the expensive way; it lost its latest battle in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals last week.

The ZapMedia-Apple lawsuit has been in the courts for many years now. In a suit brought before the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ZapMedia alleged that Apple had infringed on a patent over ZapMedia’s technology.