Podcast: Texas v. United States of America
A California semiconductor manufacturer cannot pursue in court its claims of trade secret misappropriation against a rival company while simultaneously arbitrating the same claims against the allegedly larcenous employee, a...more
The Supreme Court ruled on several cases involving class actions in the last few months. A case awaiting certiorari could dramatically change the jurisdictional requirements for plaintiffs in class actions across the country....more
Are PTAB judges constitutional? This week the Supreme Court granted certiorari to answer this question. In Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew, the Federal Circuit considered whether the appointment of administrative patent judges...more
Maybe it was the end of summer and the start of fall, or the kids (kind of) going back to school. But whatever it was, last week the Court issued only one precedential decision, in a veteran’s benefits case. All said, the...more
Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, Inc., Case No. 19–631 (2020). The federal government cannot exempt itself from the anti-robocall provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, 47 U. S. C....more
Federal Circuit Extends Arthrex to Patent Prosecution - This week, the Federal Circuit extended its holding in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., that administrative patent judges ("APJs") were improperly appointed in...more
In October 2019, a Federal Circuit panel concluded that the status of Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) violated the Appointments...more
Since the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s inception, it has faced questions regarding its constitutionality. This past year was no different. In 2019, aggrieved patent owners raised numerous constitutional challenges...more
Last fall, the Federal Circuit held in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. that the way the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) had appointed administrative patent judges (“APJs”) to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board...more
Arthrex appealed a final written decision from an inter partes review (IPR) where the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) found all challenged claims of its patent anticipated. On appeal, Arthrex argued for the first time...more
The Ninth Circuit ruled that a California Matco Tool franchisee, John Fleming, could bring a class action wage and hour suit in California, even though a forum selection clause in the distribution agreement specified Ohio...more
On December 18, 2019 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision which the court revised on January 9, declared the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) individual health insurance mandate unconstitutional as...more
As you may recall, in late September, we expected a decision from the Fifth Circuit in Texas v. United States—the case challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)—in the fall of...more
The Appointments Clause: Ensuring That PTAB Decisions Are Subject to Constitutional Checks and Balances In Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., Appeal No. 18-2251, the Federal Circuit ruled that, under the then-existing...more
On December 18, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional but remanded to the district court to assess whether the...more
On December 18th, 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals released a long-awaited decision on a significant challenge to the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), affirming a lower-court ruling that we discussed in a previous post....more
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare (the “ACA”) has survived two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court. It remains to be seen whether there will be a third. ...more
A decision in Texas v. United States was issued by a divided three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on December 18, 2019. This case presented once again the question whether the Affordable Care Act...more
December 18, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reached its widely anticipated decision in Texas vs. Azar, ruling that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional as a...more
On December 2, 2019, the United States government submitted a brief to the Supreme Court urging it to deny review of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling holding a provision of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)...more
This document provides a factual overview of the Federal Circuit’s decision in Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew, discusses the court’s remedy, and addresses implications for litigants with Patent Trial and Appeal Board cases pending...more
Yesterday, in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., a panel of the Federal Circuit unanimously held that the appointment scheme for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) Administrative Patent Judges (APJ) is...more
On June 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit issued three decisions confirming that the FAA does not preempt California’s so-called “McGill” rule. As a result, the court invalidated provisions of the arbitration agreements in each...more
The UK Supreme Court has today published its long-awaited judgment in Egon Zehnder Ltd v Tillman. It held that a six month post-termination non-compete covenant was enforceable against a departing employee even though it...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently held that the FAAAA preempts the second prong of the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Statute as applied to certain delivery drivers. Although the...more