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A New Front in The Patent Wars: CJEU Asked for Guidance on Limits to Injunctive Relief

The patent wars between large technology companies continue unabated. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is set to provide guidance on the antitrust rules when holders of standard essential patents seek...more

New FTC Advertising Guidelines Are Worth a Review

In a recent post, I discussed how a company could be liable for referencing a third-party’s unbiased endorsement if, unbeknownst to that company, the basis for the endorsement turned out to be unjustified. In another...more

Free Product Distribution or Discounted Component Distribution Likely Does Not Exhaust Patent Rights

In LifeScan, Inc. v. Shasta Technologies, LLC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38677 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 19, 2013), Judge Davila granted plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction to address claims of patent infringement, and...more

Google Settles Another Privacy Allegation — This One Concerning Its ‘Street View’

Google recently agreed to a settlement after a three-year investigation conducted by 38 state attorneys general stemming for allegations that it had violated individuals’ privacy rights when it collected information from...more

Advertising News & Analysis - March 14, 2013

In this issue: - FTC’s .com Disclosures: New Media Still Subject to Old Rules - Paper, Plastic...or Mobile? FTC Issues Report on Mobile Payments - Why So Negative on Negative Option? - Cy Pres...more

In a Rarely-Seen Joint-Effort in the Competition Arena, the DOJ and the USPTO Unite in Issuing a Policy Statement on Remedies...

On January 8, 2013 – less than a week after the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") entered into a consent order with Google,[1] under which Google is generally banned from seeking injunctions on its F/RAND[2] -encumbered...more

On-Line Privacy: The FTC Snuffs Out A “History Sniffer”

Most people seem to know that on-line browsing does not occur in a vacuum. As we browse the Web the sites we visit send “cookies” to our browsers that allow those sites to recognize us and keep track of our activity on them....more

"FTC Ends Google Investigation With a ‘Slap on the Wrist’"

On January 3, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ended its highly publicized and wide-ranging investigation into Google Inc.’s business practices with an enforcement action that has been described by some as a “slap on...more

IP Update, Vol. 15, No. 12, December 2012

In This Issue: Patents - ..Federal Circuit Rules It’s Own Standards Apply When Considering Preliminary Injunctions ..Preliminary Testing of Medical Devices in Animals Enables Their Use in...more

Google Pays $22.5 Million for Violating Users’ Privacy

After violating a 2011 privacy settlement it had made with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Google has been ordered to pay a $22.5 million fine over its use of cookies on users of Apple’s Safari web browser....more

The Guns of August: FTC Announces Policy Change Lowering Barrier to Monetary Relief for Anticompetitive Behavior; Action Aimed at...

In a signal that it may seek monetary relief from pharmaceutical companies involved in so-called “pay-for-delay” agreements and from other firms engaged in other conduct believed to be anticompetitive, the Federal Trade...more

"When Did You Last Think About Your Privacy Policy?" FTC and Class Action Plaintiffs Take Aim in Data Breach Actions

Almost daily, headlines announcing data breaches exposing consumer personal information to identity thieves are becoming more and more common. Recent regulatory and consumer class actions filed on the heels of these breaches...more

United States of America v. Apple Inc

Complaint in US v. Apple and Hachette, et al.

Full text copy of the anti-trust complaint filed by the US Department of Justice against Apple and a handful of book publishers to do with e-book pricing practices. From the DOJ press release: "The Department of Justice...more

High Stakes: Will Google’s Alleged Circumvention of Safari Privacy Settings Expose It to a $100,000,000,000+ Fine?

Google’s strong interest (some might say desperation) in conquering the social media territory already so thoroughly dominated by Facebook may have caused it to go a little too far. Or a lot too far, assuming you think...more

The FTC Has Your Back, Even When It's Naked: FTC Orders P2P Program's Default File Sharing Settings Changed

On October 12, 2011, the FTC announced that it, along with Frostwire LLC and FrostWire’s managing member, Angel Leon, (collectively, “FrostWire”), agreed to a stipulated final order for permanent injunction resulting from the...more

2011 — The Year of The Breach: Consumers, companies, insurers, and legislators stake out positions after rash of data breaches

Originally Published in Insurance Law360. In the first seven months of 2011, a number of companies and institutions have reported large-scale data breaches. The causes of the breaches range from misplacement of data by...more

Generic Drug "Sham" Litigation Claim Accrues on Date of Competitor Drug Approval

Medical Mutual of Ohio, Inc. (“MMOH”), a medical insurer, brought an antitrust class action on behalf of similarly situated indirect purchasers of a constipation drug produced by Braintree Laboratories (“Braintree”) in...more

In the Matter of Facebook, Inc. and the Facial Identification of Users

Complaint, Request for Investigation, Injunction, and Other Relief

EPIC Files Complaint, Urges Investigation of Facebook's Facial Recognition Techniques Today EPIC, and several privacy organizations, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about Facebook's automated tagging of...more

Software Download Is Not “Goods or Services” under CLRA, but Third Party Payments Constitute “Restitution” under the UCL:...

Software now joins insurance and credit services on the list of intangible “goods or services” that fall outside the scope of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). The recent news from the Northern...more

Federal Circuit Narrows Patent Misuse Doctrine and Provides Guidance to Patent Pools

In January of this year, we alerted clients to the potential implications of Princo Corporation v. International Trade Commission, in which the Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, would decide whether an agreement among patent...more

The LimeWire Decision: Can Legal Precedent Keep Up With the Internet Age?

The latest copyright infringement decision has emerged against LimeWire, the immensely popular file-sharing client. Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found LimeWire was liable...more

Delay Caused by Court Injunction Is Not "Antitrust Injury"

Plaintiff flunks Twombly-Sprewell "two-step," as the court's judicial notice of admissions adduced during preliminary injunction discovery discloses facts the court found to be inconsistent with plaintiff's theory of the...more

Letter to Federal Judge Overseeing Facebook Privacy Litigation

EPIC, Privacy Groups Oppose Facebook Settlement EPIC and other privacy groups sent a letter to the federal judge overseeing a class-action settlement against Facebook in California, opposing the settlement as unfair and...more

DOJ Formally Aligns Itself With FTC In Opposition To Reverse Payment Settlements

The new Department of Justice, with Christine Varney at the helm of its antitrust division, has changed course to finally (and formally) align itself with the Federal Trade Commission in opposition to reverse payment...more

The FTC's Latest Remarks In Opposition To Reverse Payment Settlements: Banning Them Would Save Consumers $35 Billion

The Federal Trade Commission's Chairman, Jon Leibowitz, continued the FTC's aggressive campaign against reverse payment settlements (also called "pay-for-delay" or "exclusion" settlements) by delivering a speech at the Center...more