Sixth Circuit Rules that High-Volume Phone and Email Campaign Violates Computer Fraud and Abuse Act By Michael Hoven – Edited by Abby Lauer Pulte Homes, Inc. v. Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am., Nos. 09-2245; 10-1673 (6th Cir. Aug. 2, 2011) Slip opinion The Sixth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, which had granted the Laborers’ International Union of North America’s (“LIUNA”) motion to dismiss Pulte Homes’ ... Read More...

Third Circuit holds that vulgar MySpace profile created off school grounds did not cause “substantial disruption” at the school to justify student’s ten-day suspension By Michael Adelman – Edited by Abby Lauer J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, No. 08-4138 (3d Cir. June 13, 2011) Slip Opinion The Third Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed and remanded the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s ruling that suspension was an appropriate punishment for a student who created a fake MySpace account that made fun ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Provides Guidance for Obviousness Determinations by the PTO and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences By Abby Lauer – Edited by Dorothy Du In re Kao, 2010-1307 (Fed. Cir. May 13, 2011) Slip Opinion The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (“Board”), which had rejected patent application 11/680,432 (“the ‘432 application”) for obviousness. The Federal Circuit also affirmed findings of obviousness by the Board regarding patent applications 12/167,859 ... Read More...

Microsoft argues for a lower burden of proof for patent invalidity where prior art wasn’t before the PTO By Abby Lauer – Edited by Matt Gelfand Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. P’ship, No. 10-290 (U.S. 2011) Transcript of Oral Arguments On April 18, 2011, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. P’ship, a case involving a dispute over the evidentiary standard that must be met by a patent challenger in order to overcome the presumption ... Read More...

Plaintiff’s Lanham Act false association claims against Google AdWords program survive motion to dismiss By Abby Lauer – Edited by Matt Gelfand Jurin v. Google, No. 2:09-cv-03065-MCE-KJM (E.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 2011) Slip Opinion hosted by Scribd.com The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California denied in part and granted in part Google’s motion to dismiss in a case involving trademark infringement and breach of contract claims against the search engine. While granting Google’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s ... Read More...