Federal Judge Rejects $125m Google Books Settlement By Philip Yen – Edited by Chinh Vo The Authors Guild, et al. v. Google Inc., No. 05 Civ. 8136 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 22, 2011) Opinion hosted by The Authors Guild Circuit Judge Denny Chin, sitting for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, rejected the $125 million Google Books class action settlement agreement between the Internet giant and groups representing authors and publishers. The court said that the ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Rules Federal Law Trumps State Law in Interpretation of Patent Ownership Rights By Flora Amwayi – Edited by Jonathan Allred Abraxis Bioscience, Inc. v. Navinta LLC, 2009-1539, 2011 WL 873298 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 14, 2011) Slip Opinion The Federal Circuit denied a petition for an en banc rehearing of a Federal Circuit panel order dismissing Abraxis’ patent infringement case against Navinta. The court dismissed the case on the grounds that Abraxis did not have standing to sue for ... Read More...

By Nathan Lovejoy Lime Wire Damages Limited To One Statutory Damage Award Per Work Judge Kimba Wood ruled on March 10th that the statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act authorizes only one damage award per work infringed rather than one award for every infringement. Wood noted that had she adopted the record industry plaintiff’s interpretation the potential damages against the file-sharing software company would be “more money than the entire recording industry has made since Edison’s invention of the ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Requires Pleading with Particularity in False Marking Lawsuit By Raquel Acosta – Edited by Jonathan Allred In re BP Lubricants USA Inc., No. 960 (Fed. Cir. March 15, 2011) Slip Opinion The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted in part the petition for a writ of mandamus filed by BP Lubricants USA Inc. (“BP”), reversing in part the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which had denied BP’s motion to dismiss on the ... Read More...

Ninth Circuit Vacates Injunction in Keyword Advertising Case By Kaethin Prizer – Edited by Kassity Liu Network Automation, Inc. v. Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc., No. 10-55840 (9th Cir. Mar. 8, 2011) Slip Opinion The Ninth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction granted by the district court to Advance Systems Concepts (“Systems”) in a trademark infringement case involving the use of keyword advertising. The court found that the lower court erred in its analysis of whether Network Automation’s keyword advertising, which targeted ... Read More...