By Jyoti Uppuluri Spanish Law Won’t Allow Website Takedowns Without Court Order On December 4, Slashdot reported that Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced the Spanish Government would not take down websites without judicial authorization, contrary to language in a draft of Spain’s Sustainable Economy Act. The Prime Minister’s statement came as a response to a widely published online manifesto issued on December 2 by “a group of journalists, bloggers, professionals, and creators” opposed to the draft, which ... Read More...

Second Patent Case in a Year Ordered Transferred from E.D. Texas By Stephanie Weiner – Edited by Jad Mills In re Hoffman-La Roche Inc., et al., No. 911 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2009) Slip Opinion On December 2, 2009, a Federal Circuit panel granted Hoffman-La Roche’s petition for a writ of mandamus ordering the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to transfer a patent infringement suit brought by Novartis to the Eastern District of North Carolina.  The Federal ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Affirms: Spam Patent is Obvious By Gary Pong – Edited by Jad Mills Perfect Web Technologies, Inc. v. InfoUSA, Inc., No. 2009-1105 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2009). Slip Opinion The Federal Circuit affirmed the Southern District of Florida’s decision granting summary judgment to invalidate plaintiff’s U.S. Patent No. 6,631,400 (“‘400 patent”) due to the obvious nature of the asserted claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The Federal Circuit held that the ‘400 patent failed the KSR test for ... Read More...