Law Reports

“The judgment is affirmed.” The U.S. Supreme Court in Bluman v. FEC on Jan. 9, refusing to extend the holding of Citizens United v. FEC to foreigners seeking to spend money to influence U.S. elections. With no further elaboration, the Court effectively ruled that Congress had the authority to bar foreign nationals from contributing their private funds to any [...]

MarcTec, LLC v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 10-01285, 2012 BL 134 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 3, 2012) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s judgment declaring a case involving two surgical implant patents exceptional under35 U.S.C. § 285 and awarding the defendants attorney and expert fees of about $4.7 million. [...]

Sarah Jane Leake | Bloomberg Law Financial Conduct Authority – House of Commons Treasury Committee Twenty-sixth Report of Session 2010-12, 13 Jan. 2011 On 13 January, the House of Commons Treasury Committee (Committee)1 published a report on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the conduct of business regulator in the coalition Government’s new regulatory framework for [...]

Susan M. Greenwood | Bloomberg Law Capital Mgmt. Select Fund Ltd. v. Bennett, No. 08-06166, 2012 BL 7128 (2d Cir. Jan. 10, 2012) Resolving another piece of the fallout from the collapse of Refco, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that customer agreements (Agreements) between investors and Refco subsidiary Refco [...]

John G. Haley | Bloomberg Law Federal Trade Commission: Comments on Facial Recognition Technology The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on the issues discussed during a recent FTC workshop on the privacy and security concerns raised by the use of facial recognition technology. The workshop, titled Face Facts: A Forum on Facial Recognition Technology, [...]

Christopher Bernard | Bloomberg Law ESMA extends transitional period for use of non-EU credit ratings, Australian CRA regime endorsed – First binding standards on CRAs sent to European Commission – European Securities and Markets Authority Press Release ESMA/2011/460 of 22 Dec. 2011 The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued final Regulatory Technical Standards [...]

Jessica McKinney | Bloomberg Law Wolk v. Kodak Imaging Network, Inc., No. 10-CV-04135, 2012 BL 842 (S.D.N.Y. Jan 3, 2012) In a case brought against the photo and video sharing site Photobucket.com, Inc. by an artist claiming that her copyrighted images were illegally copied, displayed, and modified by Photobucket users, the U.S. District Court for [...]

Michael L. Calder | Bloomberg Law Finch v. Commonwealth Health Ins. Connector Auth., No. SJC-11025, 2012 BL 2548 (Mass. Jan. 5, 2012) The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled unconstitutional the state legislature’s attempt to significantly reduce state-funded health insurance premium assistance to certain noncitizen immigrants. The decision restores funding for nearly 30,000 noncitizen immigrants lawfully [...]

Fanni Koszeg | Bloomberg Law CRS Report, Derivatives Legislation in the 112th Congress (Dec. 27, 2011) The Congressional Research Service (CRS) published a report (Report) on derivatives-related legislation in the current Congress. A majority of these proposals would amend or expand upon certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). [...]

Adrienne Woods | Bloomberg Law Nortel Networks, Inc., et al. v. Trustee of Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan; Board of the Pension Protection Fund, No. 11-1895, 2011 BL 328797 (3d Cir. Dec. 29, 2011) The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of the appeals of the Trustee [...]

Consumer Protection Regarding New gTLDs, Letter from the Federal Trade Commission Letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (Dec. 16, 2011) On December 16 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), the organization that oversees Internet domain names, expressing concern [...]

Richard Powell | Bloomberg Law Outcome of Disciplinary Hearing: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, ICAEW member firm in connection with JP Morgan Securities Limited – Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board Press Notice AADB PN 40 of 6 Jan. 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has been fined £1.4 million by the UK Joint Disciplinary Scheme Tribunal (Tribunal) over failures as [...]

Michael F. Bahler | Bloomberg Law Franklin v. CitiMortgage, Inc., No. 11-cv-00608, 2012 BL 926 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 3, 2012) The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio allowed a defendant in a putative class action removed under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), Pub. L. No. 109-2, 119 Stat. 4, to multiply [...]

Doe v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 11–CV–01709, 2011 BL 330866 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 23, 2011) The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a complaint anonymously filed by an actress alleging violation of state privacy laws based on the inclusion of her age in an online profile. The court held that the harm [...]

Susan M. Greenwood | Bloomberg Law SEC v. Garcia, No. 10-CV-05268, 2011 BL 327296 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 28, 2011) Spoliation of evidence requires the bad faith destruction of adverse evidence. Circumstantial evidence of insider trading must rise above mere speculation. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted summary judgment to Luis [...]

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue, Nos. 10-CV-3965, 10-CV-3983., 2011 BL 313100 (3d Cir. Dec. 12, 2011) Substantial statistical disparities between the racial composition of the jobs at issue and the racial composition of the qualified population in the relevant labor market alone can raise an [...]

Fanni Koszeg | Bloomberg Law Wailea Partners, LP v. HSBC Bank USA, N.A., No. 11-CV-03544, 2011 BL 318810 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 15, 2011) In the ISDA agreement, Wailea, a sophisticated business party, expressly disclaimed reliance on statements by HSBC regarding the investment. Under New York contract law and applicable precedent, the written agreement governs the [...]

Susan M. Greenwood | Bloomberg Law SEC v. Weintraub, No. 11-CV-21549, 2011 BL 330737 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 30, 2011) The announcement of a tender offer is material to investors. The “in connection with” element does not require defendant’s actual participation in a securities transaction. All communications concerning a tender offer are subject to Exchange Act [...]

In re IFC Credit Corporation, Case No. 11-2172, 2011 BL 305575 (7th Cir. Dec. 5, 2011) Holding that the rule prohibiting corporations from litigating pro se is not a rule of federal subject matter jurisdiction. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s order declining to dismiss a corporation’s [...]

Betsy Goldman | Bloomberg Law ATA Airlines, Inc. v. Federal Express Corp., Nos. 11-1382, 11-1492, 2011 BL 326882 (7th Cir. Dec. 27, 2011) The regression model of ATA’s expert was fatally flawed because it encompassed incorrect dependent and independent variables. The trial court failed to fulfill its duty to evaluate the analysis of ATA’s expert. [...]