Lawyer - News

EBay has settled a seven-year patent dispute that prompted an important intellectual property ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court by agreeing to buy three MercExchange patents it had been accused of violating with its "Buy It Now" feature. MercExchange had hoped to win a court order preventing eBay from continuing to use the technology, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that judges do not necessarily have to block a technology from being used when a jury finds a patent violation. No comments

Even as associate salaries and bonuses soar ever higher, larger law firms in the U.S. are reported to lose at least 30 percent of associates after about three years. Big-firm associates may be a lost generation, say Ben W. Heineman Jr. and David B. Wilkins: a cohort of junior lawyers whose initial professional experience is extremely unsatisfying, who are turned off by the traditional rite of passage in a large firm, and who are not developing as legal professionals in the broadest sense of that phrase. No comments

As traditional class actions become a less reliable tactic for attacking business interests, a new one has emerged. Instead of finding a class to represent, plaintiffs lawyers are representing some state attorneys general in cases brought on behalf of the states and their citizens. The resulting lawsuit can pose a new and dangerous threat to defendants. But such lawsuits also have unique vulnerabilities. Attorneys Brian Anderson and Amber Taylor examine some possible strategies for responding to AG suits. No comments

If Microsoft conquers Yahoo, some intellectual property lawyers say that the companies will be on course for a clash over their IP attitude. The two companies' views about what should be shared and what should be kept proprietary have been as different as sunny Silicon Valley and dreary Seattle. No comments

In a case being watched by advocates for patients with anorexia and bulimia, a federal judge has ruled that class action lawyers can pursue an attempt to compel Aetna to improve benefits for eating disorder victims. The ruling will likely serve as a guide in a similar case against Horizon Blue Cross of New Jersey. The crucial issue in both cases is whether eating disorders are biologically based mental illnesses for which insureds are entitled to a higher level of coverage than for purely mental conditions. No comments

A judge has denied an aspiring model's request to keep her identity hidden in her sexual battery suit against basketball star Jason Kidd. The woman's desire to avoid "embarrassment" is a "plainly insufficient" ground for invoking New York Civil Rights Law 50-b, the judge held. Using fictitious names "runs afoul" of the public's right of access to judicial proceedings, and anonymity should be restricted to situations where a plaintiff faces a "risk of retaliatory physical or mental harm," the judge said. No comments

A Philadelphia jury has awarded $12 million to a woman with terminal breast cancer in her suit against two doctors for allegedly failing to diagnose the disease before it had progressed to an incurable stage. The woman's attorney said one of the doctors had settled before trial, and that the jury concluded that the settling doctor was 35 percent responsible for the failure to diagnose. As a result, the plaintiff stands to recover 65 percent of the verdict, or $7.8 million, from the nonsettling doctor. No comments

On March 3, Chicago-based McDermott Will & Emery will open a Houston office staffed by three energy lawyers from Houston firm Bracewell & Giuliani, making it the 15th office for the 1,170-lawyer firm. Washington, D.C., partner Paul Pantano, head of McDermott's energy practice, says he has had an interest in a Houston office for several years because Houston is the center of the nation's energy business. In addition, Pantano says McDermott sees an opportunity to build its M&A and IP practices in Houston. No comments

A federal judge in Los Angeles has refused to grant four out of the five dismissal motions filed by Milberg Weiss in the federal government's kickback case. Prosecutors allege that Milberg Weiss and seven of its partners, including its founding partner, Melvyn Weiss, generated $250 million in attorney fees by paying illegal kickbacks to name plaintiffs. In January, Milberg Weiss filed motions to dismiss several of those claims. No comments

Some of the U.K.'s leading law firms are having to push back their long-awaited launches in Abu Dhabi due to delays in receiving their licenses from local authorities. The move comes as a growing number of firms rush to the region amid increasing pressure from local clients, including coveted sovereign wealth funds, to launch offices in Abu Dhabi as well as Dubai. No comments