Google Foe Ends Unique Trademark Suit Over Keywords
After four years of locking horns with Google in court, Michigan-based American Blind and Wallpaper Factory has abandoned its unique trademark infringement case against the Silicon Valley titan. The end comes just a couple of months shy of a scheduled trial date. Such a trial would have been the first time a jury took a crack at an important question in today's trademark law: whether a search engine infringes when it lets one company pay to place its ad alongside search results on a competitor's name.
LeBoeuf Launches Hong Kong Office as Asia Hub
LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae has launched a new office in Hong Kong, with the practice set to serve as the New York-based firm's regional hub for Asia. The office opened with 10 lawyers and expects to double that figure by the end of the year. LeBoeuf, which has a small office in Beijing, had already planned its Hong Kong launch before the beginning of merger talks with New York rival Dewey Ballantine. The two firms are expected to unite by October.
Iraq Contractors Tap Law Firms
The war in Iraq has an army of high-profile attorneys working to steer defense contractors through a minefield of lawsuits and federal investigations involving war profiteering and fraud. "The difficulty is that they're trying to get a job done in the middle of a war," says Vinson & Elkins partner Craig Margolis of defense contractors doing business in Iraq. Some lawyers feel those defense contractors are under attack. So the first step in surviving a government inquiry is to get the right lawyer.
Trial Tech Smokes Out Big Tobacco
The Justice Department targeted the tobacco industry in the largest civil racketeering and conspiracy case in U.S. history. Animation was critical to Justice's presentation, the most compelling of which was the depiction of a smoker to demonstrate the harmful effects of smoking on the body.
Employers Should Be Mindful of Sex-Stereotyping Claims in Dealing With Gender Identity
Courts have long been in agreement that discrimination against a transgendered person isn't sex discrimination actionable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act because "sex" means biological male or female status, not sexuality or sexual orientation. However, Jenner & Block's Carla Rozycki and David Haase advise employers dealing with issues of gender identity to analyze their decisions to make sure they don't fall within the "sexual stereotyping" theory recently recognized by several courts.
CNET Escapes SEC Net on Backdating
It certainly looked like CNET Networks was headed for trouble last October when it issued a press release saying that stock options to employees were routinely misdated from 1996 "through at least 2003." The company's CEO, GC and HR chief were driven out, and in January the company announced that it was restating more than $105 million in past expenses. But on Tuesday, lawyers received good, if surprising, news: The SEC has closed its investigation of CNET and the three executives who were forced to leave.
Atlanta Falcons Trying to Recover Millions in Bonuses Paid to Vick
How long Michael Vick spends in prison will be determined by federal prosecutors, his criminal defense team and a U.S. District Court judge, but what happens to millions of Vick's bonuses likely will be determined by lawyers for the Atlanta Falcons, the NFL Players Association, the NFL Management Council and possibly both an arbitrator and special master. They will wrestle with the esoteric law of the NFL to find out how much of the $37 million the Falcons paid to their quarterback the team can recover.
Lovells Announces Landmark Alliance With Nine Chinese Firms
Lovells has launched an alliance with nine independent Chinese law firms, the London firm announced Monday. The Sino-Global Legal Alliance will see lawyers from the participating firms working together in cross-firm practice groups. Lovells has previously worked with member firms in areas such as finance, dispute resolution and intellectual property. Lovells currently has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, but local regulation limits the work the firm can do in the region.
3rd Circuit: Sentencing Guidelines May Not Be Ignored
Finding that a sentence of four months in prison was too lenient for a man who confessed to possessing child pornography, the 3rd Circuit ruled that a New Jersey federal judge improperly ignored the federal sentencing guidelines that called for a prison term in the range of 37 to 46 months. The court said the guidelines "deserve careful consideration in each case." The decision reflects a recent trend by the 3rd Circuit to flex its muscle in criminal cases by overturning sentences it deems "unreasonable."
2nd Circuit: Lender Bear Stearns Not Required to Provide Notice of Firings
The 2nd Circuit has rebuffed an attempt by fired National Finance Corporation workers to hold Bear Stearns liable for not giving them advance written notice of their impending terminations. The court said that workers must show that a creditor was "responsible for operating the business as a going concern" rather than acting only "'to protect [its] security interest' and 'preserve the business asset for liquidation or sale.'" An attorney for Bear Stearns said the decision should "give comfort" to lenders.
N.Y. High Court to Review $15 Million Award in Steinberg Case
Joel Steinberg, a self-described "doting" parent still seeking a measure of vindication for his role in the 1987 death of 6-year-old Lisa Steinberg, will ask the New York Court of Appeals this week to throw out much of a $15 million judgment against him awarded to the estate of the abused girl. Steinberg, a disbarred attorney who served 15 years for manslaughter, contends that the award for damages was excessive for what was "at most eight hours of pain and suffering."
Public Defender Service Attorney Detained in Holding Cell
A heated exchange between D.C. Superior Court Judge John Bayly Jr. and Public Defender Service attorney Liyah Brown last week ended with Brown in a holding cell -- the first time, Bayly says, he has ever detained a lawyer. Bayly compared Brown's actions in court to "a terrier with a bone." PDS general counsel Julia Leighton says Bayly's order that Brown be taken into custody "was unfounded, violated fundamental due process principles and was an abuse of power."
N.Y. Board: 400 Bar Exam Takers Submitted Incomplete Essays
The New York Board of Law Examiners and Software Secure Inc., the company the board hired to provide software for the bar exam, appear to have incomplete essays from about 400 people who sat for July's exam. After test takers complained of problems, Software Secure determined that the software malfunctioned on some laptops when students toggled between answer tabs on their screens. It is too early to tell if the software problems will cause a delay in grading the July test.
Name: SyroBro