After Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont filed in April 2007 a bill entitled "Patent Reform Act of 2007," Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona filed his own bill that he called "Patent Reform Act of 2008. More...
Holding: A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas returned a verdict finding products made by Samsung Electronics Ltd. willfully infringed two patents for plasma display technology held by Tokyo-based Pioneer Corp. Specifically, the jury awarded Pioneer more than $59 million for lost profits and royalties, after making a finding of willful infringement. The trial in U.S. District Judge David Folsom's court lasted eight days. The complete verdict amount, including awards for lost profits and royalties, totaled $59,351,480. More...
Holding: In a rare full court opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has rejected a patent application covering a method for hedging risks in commodities trading for not meeting patent eligibility requirements under Section 101 of the Patent Act. Specifically, the Federal Circuit found that while the claimed process contained physical steps, such as initiating and identifying, it did not involve transforming an article into a different state or thing. The claim only refers to "transactions" involving the exchange of these legal rights at a "fixed rate corresponding to a risk position." Thus, the claimed process did not involve the transformation of any physical object or substance, or an electronic signal representative of any physical object or substance. In so stating, the Federal Circuit held that the machine-or-transformation test is now the exclusive test for the eligibility of process claims. Since appellants' claim failed that test, the Federal Circuit accordingly affirmed the judgment of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences ("BPAI"). More...
Holding: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC) has finalized settlements with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (“Citi”) and UBS Securities LLC and UBS Financial Services, Inc. (“UBS”), that will provide nearly $30 billion to tens of thousands of customers who invested in auction rate securities before the market for those securities froze in February. The settlements resolved the SEC's charges that both firms misled investors regarding the liquidity risks associated with auction rate securities (“ARS”) that they underwrote, marketed and sold. Previously, on August 7 and 8, 2008, the SEC's Division of Enforcement announced preliminary settlements with Citi and UBS, respectively. More...
Holding: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has announced the filing and settlement of charges against Zurich Financial Services Group (“Zurich”) for aiding and abetting a fraud by Converium Holding AG (Converium”) involving the use of finite reinsurance transactions to inflate improperly Converium’s financial performance. Under the settlement, Zurich consented to the entry of a final judgment directing it to pay a $25 million penalty plus $1 in disgorgement and, in a related administrative proceeding, agreed to an entry of a cease-and-desist order against it. More...
Following are Pdf Law Commentaries elaborating on the significance of the most important of the Pdf Law Summaries.
Commentary: In a closely-watched decision, the California Supreme Court has confirmed California’s bright line prohibition against post-employment restrictions such as covenants not to compete. Edwards v. Arthur Anderson, 44 Cal. 4th 937 (Cal. 2008). The Court rejected the 9th Circuit’s deviations from this rule in which the 9th Circuit upheld “narrow restraints” on employment in California. The Court also held that employment contracts releasing “any and all” claims cannot by definition encompass nonwaivable statutory protections. More...
Related summary: CA Court Issues Ruling on Non-Compete Clauses and Other Employment Restraints in Edwards II Case
Commentary: In Guyden v. Aetna, 544 F.3d 376 (2nd Cir. 2008) – a case of first impression in the federal circuit courts -- the Second Circuit confirmed that arbitration provisions are enforceable against an employee who claims that her termination violated the whistleblower protections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The opinion confirms the federal court’s strong support of arbitration provisions, and provides some guidance for employers seeking to implement arbitration agreements. More...
Related summary: Whistleblower Claims Arbitrable under Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Second Circuit Says
Commentary: In an opinion seen as a major development in open source jurisprudence, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in Jacobsen v. Katzer, 535 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2008), open source licenses create conditions on the scope of the license, and failure to comply with those conditions may constitute copyright infringement. More...
Related summary: Federal Circuit Holds That Open Source Code Licensors Are Entitled to Copyright Protection Governing Use of Code
Commentary: In Douglas Millowitz v. Citigroup Global Markets et al (“In Re Salomon Analyst Metromedia Litigation”), 544 F.3d 474 (2nd Cir. 2008), the Second Circuit extended the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance, first set forth in Basic v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988), to analyst reports. The Court also stated that defendants should be afforded the opportunity to rebut that presumption at the class certification stage in an effort to prevent certification. The opinion may make it harder to pursue class actions in some securities fraud cases. More...
Related summary: Second Circuit Remands Metromedia Case, Rules that Liability Presumption Now Applies to Stock Analysts as Well
Commentary: In Cohesive Technologies, Inc. v. Waters Corporation, 543 F.3d 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2008), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that an invention may be anticipated, even though it is proven non-obvious. The Court drew a clear separating line between the novelty analysis of 35 U.S.C. section 102 and the non-obviousness analysis of 35 U.S.C. section 103(a). While the general holding is perhaps well-founded, in a case such as this where the references cited under §102 and §103 were identical, the decision to remand seems wasteful and inappropriate. More...
Related summary: Federal Circuit Remands Waters' Drug Testing Patent Dispute with Cohesive Technologies
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ADA Regulation for Title II (pdf, 209kb)
ADA Standards for Accessible Design. (pdf, 4.6mb)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (pdf, 96kb)
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (pdf, 167kb)
Civil Rights Act of 1991 (pdf, 57kb)
Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, as amended (pdf, 619kb)
Copyright Act of 1976 (pdf, 1.4mb)
Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004 (pdf, 102kb)
Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (pdf, 494kb)
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (pdf, 633kb)
Equal Pay Act of 1963 (pdf, 49kb)
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (pdf, 337kb)
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 - Regulations (pdf, 52kb)
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 - Statute (pdf, 124kb)
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (pdf, 422kb)
Intellectual Property Protection and Courts Amendments Act of 2004 (pdf, 72kb)
Internal Revenue Code (pdf, 16.8mb)
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (pdf, 131kb)
Investment Company Act of 1940 (pdf, 400kb)
Lanham Act of 1946 (pdf, 263kb)
Manual for Patent Examining Procedure (pdf, 56mb)
McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965, as amended (pdf, 408kb)
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, as amended (pdf, 194kb)
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Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (pdf, 195kb)
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Trademark Manual of Examination Procedure (pdf, 12mb)
Trademark Regulations (pdf, 734kb)
Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (pdf, 154kb)
Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, as amended (pdf, 62kb)
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