First Republic Executives Fail in Attempt to Recover Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Assets
That was the first sentence of Judge RaymondKethledge’s opinion vacating a district court order that certified a class of over 11 million Ohio residents who alleged various companies put their health at risk by manufacturing...more
In an October 10, 2023, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed a gas driller’s declaratory judgment lawsuit involving an oil and gas lease in the SWN Production Company, LLC v. Blue...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the dismissal of a declaratory judgment action because the district court failed to sufficiently support its decision. Mitek Systems, Inc. v. United...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought a declaratory judgment on the basis that a notice of termination of copyright assignment under 17 U.S.C. § 203 did not validly...more
Apple Inc. v. Zipit Wireless, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-1760 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 18, 2022) - In its only precedential patent case this week, the Federal Circuit addressed the extent to which a party exposes itself to personal...more
While the starting point for assessing an insurer’s duty to defend requires comparing the allegations contained within a complaint to the language contained within the insured’s policy, the majority of states require an...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a declaratory judgment complaint related to patent validity under the federal abstention doctrine because the issue had been decided in state court....more
By Memorandum Opinion entered by The Honorable Colm F. Connolly in Power Integrations, Inc. v. CogniPower LLC, Civil Action No. 20-15-CFC (D.Del. July 1, 2020), the Court granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss counts 3, 4, and...more
After over 18 months of private mediation, MGM Resorts International has finally dismissed a series of declaratory judgment actions the company brought against victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting. Those cases...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Communication Test Design, Inc. v. Contec, LLC, Appeal No. 2019-1672 (Fed. Cir. March 13, 2020) - This week’s Case of the Week explores two important procedural issues: a court’s discretion to...more
Addressing personal jurisdiction in a declaratory judgment action, the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit reversed the district court’s bench trial verdict, finding that the district court lacked specific personal...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini examined a broker/dealer’s effort to prevent a FINRA arbitration case involving representatives selling away activities from going forward. The plaintiff, Centaurus Financial, sought...more
In Greene v. Kenneth R. Will, a CGL insurer recently prevailed in a declaratory judgment action arising from an underlying class action alleging pollution and nuisance claims against the insured, VIM Recycling LLC, an...more
In Ruiz Food Products, Inc. v. MacroPoint LLC, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) considered whether the time-bar provision of 35 U.S.C. § 315(a)(1) was triggered when a real party-in-interest had previously filed an...more
A Post-URAA Patent that Issues After but Expires Before a Related Pre-URAA Patent Is Not a Double-Patenting Reference Against the Pre-URAA Patent - In Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. Breckenridge Pharmaceutical Inc.,...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. v. Plano Encryption Technologies LLC, Appeal No. 2016-2700 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 7, 2018) On Friday, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of a...more
Venue selection has been a primary focus for the past few years in patent infringement cases. However, a recent Federal Circuit decision serves as a reminder that a court must first be found to be able to exercise personal...more
Maxchief Investments Ltd. v. Wok & Pan, Ind., Inc., Appeal No. 2018-1121 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 29, 2018) - In the only precedential patent decision this week, the Federal Circuit addressed the extent to which a court has...more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Dyk, Reyna, and Hughes. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Summary: In the context of a suit for a declaration of non-infringement and...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - WesternGeco LLC v. Ion Geophysical Corp., Appeal Nos. 2016-2099, -2100, -2101, -2332, -2333, -2334 (Fed. Cir. May 7, 2018) - In an appeal from an inter partes review, the Federal Circuit...more
The Federal Circuit has ruled that AbbVie’s declaratory judgment action seeking to invalidate a patent licensed from MedImmune will not go forward. AbbVie licensed several patents stemming from a research collaboration that...more
The sudden death of Alexander Calderwood, the brilliant but troubled co-founder of the Ace brand of hotels, resulted in some fierce litigation between Calderwood’s estate and Calderwood’s LLC co-member over the nature of his...more
Federal Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing in Mentor Graphics v. EVE-USA - In Mentor Graphics Corp. v. Eve-USA, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2015-1470, 2015-1554, 2015-1556, the Federal Circuit denied Synopsys’ and EVE’s petition for...more
In Allied v. OSMI, the Circuit affirms dismissal of a declaratory judgment action even though Allied’s Mexican distributors had been sued in Mexico on a corresponding Mexican patent. In a first Waymo v. Uber case, the panel...more
On July 6, 2017, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) denied Petitioner Ford Motor Company’s (“Petitioner”) request for rehearing of the Board’s decision denying institution of multiple inter partes reviews (IPR)...more