My new favorite verdict form is the one from this case, where the foreperson wrote in “no infringement”. Alas for the defendants, they wrote in $15 million in damages and $2 million on attorneys fees on the rest of the claims, as detailed below.
There are not a lot of personal jurisdiction cases since Daimler AG v. Bauman that provide a current analysis of the law on personal jurisdiction challenges, so this recent opinion from the EDTX is useful for those wanting to update their standards.
Several recent opinions out of the EDTX provide litigants with more data points on enhanced damages – when are they appropriate and when are they appropriately set aside – on how future royalties are calculated, and and on when Section 285 awards of attorneys fees in “exceptional cases” are appropriate. They also provide a helpful analysis of which non-taxable fees and expenses are not recoverable under Section 285.
The Beaumont division of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas will resume normal operations on Monday, September 18, 2017. Please refer to General Order 17-14 regarding filing deadlines and General Order 17-17 regarding continuances that may have been affected by the court closure.
One day a year I have to spell things right, and today was that day. Congratulations to our Marshall Chamber of Commerce team for pulling off the win at the annual Marshall – Harrison County Literacy Council spelling bee. We made it past 12 other teams, and raised some good money for local literacy efforts. As Bryan Partee said at the beginning of the competition, “when you can read, every book is a children’s book.” I like that. (To answer your question, they’re fire ants – Marshall’s Fire Ant Festival is just a few weeks away).
Speaking of spelling, “plausible” can be a pretty hard word, but a recent opinion by Judge Payne uses it in a sentence, and provides some guidance on when a motion to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim because an assertion is not “plausible” should be denied.
Thanks to @SCOTUSPlaces for the certificate. I’ll get right on reprinting my business cards (and cleaning up my cites). Waiting on the email with the info on the secret handshake, and being a long time member of KofC and KotHS, I’ll be disappointed if a funny hat isn’t involved at some point.
Again, for information on the “(cleaned up)” citation concept, see the ASAL post adopting it here.
The issue of whether cases should be stayed pending PTAB review of the patent(s) in suit comes up not infrequently. A recent opinion provides the most concise statement of what the Court characterized as its “consistent practice” on this point, as well as providing a good opportunity to explain what this “(Cleaned up)” business is all about.
“Cleaned up” is the current practice, hot in #appellatetwitter circles, of replacing extended explanatory parentheticals required by Rules 5.3 and 5.4 of the Bluebook with a simpler parenthetical that simply says “(cleaned up)” to make it more readable. See #cleanedup. The practice was recently adopted by the Annual Survey of American Law, which provided a useful explanation of the practice.
Typically I use (Cleaned up) to delete all the included citations in a quote, but preserve the included quotation marks for eau de binding precedent, but the quote in this case provided the opportunity to selectively edit the cites to focus on the money cites and quotes, which is a more elegant use of the tool, in my opinion.
I categorically deny that I am shamelessly pursuing a “Cleaned Up Roll of Heroes” certificate from @SCOTUSPlaces like the attached (although it would be nice. I’m just saying).
The other Sherman holding of interest outside the litigation world recently was Judge Mazzant’s ruling invalidating the Obama administration’s rule expanding overtime protections for white collar workers, discussed below.
Changes in the patent docket locally in the last year and a half or so have meant more trials involving competitors – which means different issues regarding remedies. A “post verdict docket control order” order issued earlier today in such a case provides a look at what sorts of proceedings are normal in such cases after a verdict.
