Ropes & Gray LLP

On May 8, the Federal Circuit in In re Youman, No. 2011-1136, 2012 WL 1598089, clarified years of recapture law by vacating a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that rejected reissue claims being pursued…more

In a decision issued on May 3, Judge Edward M. Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed – with prejudice – the bulk of federal and California state wage and hour allegations made against…more

A recent opinion regarding the enforcement of certain provisions commonly found in confidentiality agreements in the context of a hostile takeover provides important guidance on the drafting process of such agreements. In Martin…more

Following on the heels of the Health Care Quality Improvement and Cost Reduction Act of 2012 introduced by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on May 4, 2012 (“House Bill”), the Massachusetts Senate released its own…more

On May 8, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heard oral arguments in United States ex rel. Rost v. Pfizer, Inc. (10-2215). The central issues in the case are whether compliance with the federal…more

On May 7, 2012, the Department of Labor released Employee Benefits Security Administration Field Assistance Bulletin 2012-2, which offers guidance in the form of “Frequently Asked Questions” on the fee disclosure rules for…more

On May 4, 2012, lawmakers in the Massachusetts House of Representatives introduced a bill entitled Health Care Quality Improvement and Cost Reduction Act of 2012 (“the Act”) that would overhaul the health care payment and…more

Last week, CMS issued the Proposed Fiscal Year 2013 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Update and, separately, issued a final rule regarding the use of National Provider Identifiers. These rulemakings contain few surprises,…more

On April 25, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged a former Managing Director in Morgan Stanley’s Chinese real estate investment and fund advisory group with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices…more

The U.S. Department of Commerce, through the Bureau of Economic Analysis (the “BEA”), requires U.S. resident entities (such as private equity funds or portfolio companies) to file annual reports with the BEA if a U.S. resident…more

As described in our prior Alert, Massachusetts lawmakers in 2010 made substantial changes to employers’ access to, and use of, criminal offender records information (“CORI”) made available by the Commonwealth’s Department of…more

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories v. Novo Nordisk. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Kagan, the Court construed the counterclaim provision of the Hatch-Waxman Act, 21 U.S.C. §…more

On April 17, the Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB” or the “Board”) issued a notice stating that the Board’s new regulation requiring most private employers to post a workplace notice detailing employee…more

On April 18, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Kappos v. Hyatt, affirming the Federal Circuit’s en banc decision and holding that evidence not submitted to the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)…more

In an important ruling dismissing a comprehensive securities class action complaint against Genzyme Corporation, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held last week that regulatory comments and inspectional…more