Perspectives on Consumer Products

On July 11, 2014, the FDA issued a new Draft Guidance (the Guidance) that will require drug companies to submit information on most drug samples that they distribute in the United States. The new Guidance is entitled “Reporting Drug Sample Information Under Section 6004 of the Affordable Care Act.”

Currently, the federal circuits are split over the level of deference that should be afforded to findings made by the USPTO’s Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (TTAB) on likelihood of confusion, with the circuit courts applying at least five different standards.

On June 25, 2014, in a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court struck down the “presumption of prudence” afforded ERISA fiduciaries with respect to employer stock investments in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and defined contribution plans.

The US Supreme Court this morning granted cert in a closely watched False Claims Act (FCA) case, Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Carter — a case that raises important questions about wartime suspension of the FCA’s statute of limitations.

In a relatively narrow ruling that may have far greater practical ramifications than constitutional ones, a unanimous US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down President Obama’s 2012 recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board).

On June 19, 2014, in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. ___2014, a unanimous Supreme Court held that systems and methods of exchanging financial obligations, implemented in hardware or software, did not qualify for patent protection.

This term, the Supreme Court docket includes a number of cases that could dramatically impact the labor and employment law landscape.

Our value-driven approach to client service is what distinguishes our team of lawyers as one of the premier Communications, Mobile, and Technology practices in the country.

In a very close (4-3) decision, New York’s highest court recently reversed summary judgment in a property damage and business interruption case, finding that a broker could be liable because of a potential “special relationship” with the insured.

The US Department of Justice recently announced that Fokker Services BV (FSBV), a Dutch aerospace services provider, agreed to forfeit $10.5 million to the United States.

On June 12, the DOL, in conjunction with the White House, released its proposed rule that raises the minimum wage for workers on federal service and construction contracts to $10.10 per hour.

Our value-driven approach to client service is what distinguishes our team of lawyers as one of the premier Communications, Mobile, and Technology practices in the country.

The book provides an article-by-article analysis of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, as revised in 2010 by the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

The Buy America constraints of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) which, for the first time, imposed a domestic preference provision that required all iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in any project funded wholly or partially by the ARRA be produced in the U.S.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that two uses of a racially offensive slur, directed against an employee by another employee were not sufficiently severe or pervasive as to change the terms and conditions of employment and thereby constitute unlawful discrimination.

In a closely watched case, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has concluded that officers and employees of a foreign government-owned company may be “foreign officials” for purposes of the anti-bribery prohibitions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

In 2012, when the National Labor Relations Board launched a webpage addressing protected concerted activity, Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce declared Section 7 rights “one of the best kept secrets of the NLRA.”

On May 21, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a Supplement Specialty Advisory Bulletin entitled to supplement its Special Advisory Bulletin on Patient Assistance Programs for Medicare Part D Enrollees (2005 SAB) (70 Fed. Reg. 70623).

On May 9, 2014, a federal appeals court reversed a California trial court’s determination that 37 API packages that are part of Oracle’s famous Java programming platform were not subject to copyright protection.

On May 2, 2014, the Eastern District of Virginia1 held that attorneys must inform the Court of any pending Inter Partes Review (IPR) regarding patents asserted in litigation. Failure to do so may violate the general duty of candor and good faith to the Court.

In a decision filed on May 8, 2014, the California Court of Appeals held that patentable ideas, if kept secret, can constitute information protectable by trade secret law.

Often times indenture trustees seek to sit on creditors committees in furtherance of their fiduciary duties to holders. Obviously, the professional fees and expenses can be paid as a first priority pursuant to a charging lien as provided for under the indenture documents.