A petition for certiorari filed last week at the U.S. Supreme Court ought to get the IP bar buzzing. It challenges an aspect of patent litigation that’s become almost automatic: trial before a lay jury. Urging the Court to expand judicial power in the interests of economic policy, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson partner James Dabney, who represents the petitioner, argues that an alleged infringer should have the right to independent judicial review on the question of a patent’s obviousness.
Posts on ‘August 18th, 2009’
For Litigators, a Different Kind of Recession
A year ago, as the economy began its freefall, corporate law departments were preparing for an all-out assault by plaintiffs. But the early numbers for this recession are showing something quite different. Susan Hackett, GC for the Association of Corporate Counsel, said companies are “looking to apply the least expensive Band-Aid” to their legal problems. “They can’t afford litigation. There’s a real sense of, ‘Make this go away quickly and quietly,’” Hackett said.
Doctors, Patients and Social Networks
Social networking sites like Facebook can be an asset to the medical community. But if you are going to use them some simple rules might be helpful, both professionally and legally, to protect patient confidentiality, says Harvard Law School trial advocacy instructor Linda S. Crawford.
Split Supreme Court Orders Review of Death Row Inmate’s Claims That Witnesses Recanted Testimony
The case of Troy Anthony Davis took another extraordinary turn Monday as
the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a federal district judge to hear
testimony on the death row inmate’s claims that he did not murder a
Georgia police officer. Justice Antonin Scalia said in a dissent that
the high court hadn’t made a similar move in nearly 50 years. Appended
to the order was a spirited exchange between Scalia and Justice John
Paul Stevens, whose concurrence was written to respond to Scalia’s
critique of the Court’s decision.
The Sharon Keller Hearing: David Dow, Chip Babcock in Tense Face-Off
Texas Judge Sharon Keller is facing the second day of a special trial before the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct in a case that could mark the end of her career on the bench. The Court of Criminal Appeals judge is accused of ignoring a last-minute appeal that could have halted the execution of a death row inmate in 2007. Texas Lawyer senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins is reporting live from Keller’s trial in San Antonio.
1st Circuit Revives Whistleblower’s Kickbacks Case Against J&J Subsidiary — Over DOJ’s Objections
Lawyers for Michael Duxbury, a former regional sales manager for the blockbuster anemia drug Procrit, estimate that his False Claims Act case against a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary is worth at least $3 billion. What they can’t understand is why the federal government seems to want no part of Duxbury’s allegations that Ortho Biotech induced medical centers to file false claims for Medicare reimbursement by providing free samples of Procrit.