Posts by Diane Ghrist

Chris O’Mahoney The Delaware Court of Chancery has shown a renewed interest in holding corporate founders also serving as directors subject to shareholder derivative actions when the founders engaged in self-dealing to leverage control over the board. On October 28, 2013, the Delaware Court of Chancery handed down in the case TVI Corporation et al.…

Ryan Van Olst In Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FilmOn X LLC,[1] the D.C. District Court granted Fox Television Stations and several other television network providers a preliminary injunction against FilmOn X for possibly infringing their public performance right under the Copyright Act.  Fox alleged that FilmOn X unlawfully streamed television shows over the Internet…

Eddy Rivero In Intellect Wireless, Inc. v. HTC Corp.,[1] the Federal Circuit affirmed that HTC did not infringe on Intellect’s patents, which claimed a method to send images and caller ID information over a wireless network. The court found that the patent applicant and founder of Intellect Wireless, Daniel Henderson, engaged in inequitable conduct stemming…

Ronny Valdes On September 24, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part, vacated-in-part, and remanded a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences (BPAI),[1] on U.S. Patent No. 6,260,097 (ʼ097 patent), regarding claim construction and obviousness of the patent.[2]  The Federal Circuit notably clarified the process the BPAI…

Breanne M. Hoke In Joffe et al. v. Google, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled that Google could be sued for illegal wiretapping under the federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511,[1] when the company collected data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks through its use of Street View photographs.[2]  The Ninth…

Hunter Deeley Shuanghui International Holdings Limited and Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced in May that Shuanghui would acquire all outstanding shares of Smithfield for $34.00 per share in cash, an acquisition valued at $4.7 billion.[1]  Upon completion, Shuanghui’s purchase of Smithfield would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese company.[2]  The size…

Juhi Tariq In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar[1], the Supreme Court heightened the causation standard for retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.[2] The Court held that an employee must prove that the only reason an employer retaliated was because the employee engaged in a protected activity, which it…