First Republic Executives Fail in Attempt to Recover Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Assets
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied a petition for mandamus relief from an order transferring a first-filed declaratory judgment action from the District of New Jersey to the Western District of Texas,...more
Communications Test Design, Inc. v. Contec, LLC - Before O’Malley, Mayer, and Wallach. Appeal from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Summary: Filing a declaratory judgment action in the midst of ongoing licensing...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
In a dispute between two fruit product manufacturers concerning whether the phrase “Fruit is Our 1st Ingredient” is protectable as a trademark the parties initially litigated the application of the “first-to-file” rule where...more
Federal courts have long honored the age-old principle of “first come, first served”—when presented with two competing lawsuits involving the same parties in different courts, priority is generally awarded to the first-filed...more
Under the first-to-file rule (not to be confused with the provision from the America Invents Act), when two actions involving overlapping issues and parties are pending in two federal venues, the first-filed case is generally...more
A reinsurer filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania seeking declaratory relief regarding its obligations under a reinsurance contract on May 7, 2015. The defendants filed an action concerning the same...more