Can a trademark counterfeiting and infringement plaintiff elect statutory damages instead of actual damages under the Lanham Act and still receive attorney’s fees? Continue reading »
Maggie Tamburro
One can hardly check the daily news feed from their favorite syndicators without encountering yet another high profile intellectual property headline. Whether it’s a breaking story about the NFL cracking down on counterfeiters, or the April 18th U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding a dissatisfied patent applicant’s ability to introduce new evidence, intellectual property related lawsuits dominate headlines.
We decided to count down our top 4 most intriguing and attention-grabbing intellectual property cases thus far in 2012. Continue reading »
Apr 172012
Apple’s intelligent personal assistant Siri is creating quite a frenzy lately, but perhaps not in the way Apple envisioned when unleashing it on the smartphone market last October. Siri has incited the passions of a few hard-to-please iPhone customers, one of whom took his case to a California federal court in March. Continue reading »
If you’re searching for a resource that contains almost everything you wanted to know about the federal and state multi-jurisdictional expert witness world, look no further. The Practising Law Institute has recently published its Expert Witness Answer Book 2012, an up-to-date treatise covering the most current information available on the evolving and ever-growing body of federal law, state law, and applicable case law covering expert witnesses. Continue reading »
For the second consecutive year, the Florida legislature is considering a bill that would change the standards for admission of expert witness testimony in Florida state courts. Slowly inching its way through the legislature, the bill suffered setbacks on March 8 when Senate amendments altered the language – and ostensibly the bite – of the original bill approved by the House in February.
At issue is whether Florida should adopt its own statutory version of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert, and throw out the long-standing Frye standard currently employed in Florida state courts. If you’re waiting to see which direction Florida will ultimately go regarding the current Frye v. Daubert debate, don’t hold your breath. Opinions differ across the board, and the ultimate answer, if any, may be a little of both. Continue reading »
It seems much legal attention has been devoted to Daubert lately – and with good cause. From the 1st Circuit’s Milward opinion last March allowing a less stringent “weight of the evidence” methodology – an approach previously rejected in a 5th Circuit case – to a reported increase in challenges, Daubert seems to be dominating legal headlines.
As the role of experts becomes all the more critical in the world of litigation, many legal commentators are now pondering if a Daubert challenge has become the new summary judgment. In cases requiring expert testimony, courts seem progressively willing to “connect the dots” between a Daubert challenge and summary judgment. Quite simply, failing a Daubert challenge and the resulting exclusion of an expert’s testimony can mean dismissal on summary judgment – and the end of the road for your case. Continue reading »
Last September President Obama signed into law the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act which amounted to the most sweeping reform to U.S. patent law in almost 60 years. With large industry support from the likes of Apple, Facebook and Google, the Act passed by wide margins in both the Senate and the House prior to becoming law. The Act sought to bring our outdated body of patent law up to speed with today’s technology. Proponents of the Act are hopeful it will reduce the costs of litigation, promote increased innovation, and bolster sagging U.S. job growth.
Although the so-called “first to file” provision has grabbed the spotlight, the Act includes other important reform measures that arguably demand serious consideration from those practicing in the field. Continue reading »
Jan 312012
Are Daubert challenges really weeding out “junk science” and “pseudoscience” in the courtroom, or could it be that they are actually scaring off good, competent experts? Given the numbers alone, one can’t help but wonder. Continue reading »
