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Court rules against inventors in patent case
Headline Court News |
2010/07/01 03:22
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pThe Supreme Court on Monday refused to weigh in on whether software, online-shopping techniques and medical diagnostic tests can be patented, saying only that inventors' request for protection of a method of hedging weather-related risk in energy prices cannot be granted./ppThe high court unanimously agreed with a lower court ruling that threw out Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw's patent, a decision many said could endanger patents in an increasingly high-tech world. But the high court said they did not need to make a broad sweeping decision about patents to dispose of Bilski and Warsaw's case./ppThe patent application here can be rejected under our precedents on the unpatentability of abstract ideas, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court. The court, therefore, need not define further what constitutes a patentable process./ppThe Supreme Court has already said that abstract ideas, natural phenomena and laws of nature cannot be patented. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit added that a process cannot be patented unless it is tied to a particular machine or apparatus or if it transforms a particular article into a different state or thing.
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Prop. 8 Challenge Wrapping Up in Court Today
Headline Court News |
2010/06/16 10:04
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pA federal judge will hear closing arguments Wednesday in a groundbreaking trial on a lawsuit that seeks to establish marriage as a fundamental constitutional right for gays and lesbians. /ppThe latest effort to overturn California's Prop. 8 gay-marriage ban is wrapping up in federal court today, with Ted Olson and David Boies--the attorneys for George W. Bush and Al Gore in the Florida 2000 court case--presenting final arguments. (For a liveblog of what's going on, check in with Firedoglake.) Gay-marriage proponents have voiced optimism about this case since it mirrors the case that successfully ended California's gay-marriage ban in 2008, ultimately leading to the Prop. 8 campaign to ban it again./ppThe case is being heard by District Judge Vaughn Walker (who heard the al Hamarain case and ruled the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program illegal); it seems likely that, regardless of the result, it will be appealed ad infinitum.
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Pa. police sued for hearing aid rule
Headline Court News |
2010/06/15 10:02
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| A Pennsylvania man is suing the state police over guidelines that forbid the use of hearing aids in the certification process for becoming a municipal police officer.pLawyers for 39-year-old Bill Furman have asked in the federal discrimination lawsuit filed Wednesday that the rule be changed so he has the chance to become eligible for certification. The state police oversees certification./ppFurman is a parking officer and constable. He lives in Boalsburg./ppHe was set to attend a police training academy last year when he said he was told he couldn't continue because of his hearing aids./p |
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Teen pleads guilty in Pa. officer's traffic death
Headline Court News |
2010/06/07 09:24
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| A Philadelphia teenager has pleaded guilty in the death of a police officer whose cruiser he struck with a stolen SUV in 2008.pEighteen-year-old Andre Butler pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges on Monday, the day his trial was scheduled to begin./ppPolice say Butler, then 16, was behind the wheel of a stolen Cadillac Escalade and leading police on a high-speed chase in September 2008 when the SUV crashed into a police car./ppForty-year-old Officer Isabel Nazario, who was in the cruiser's passenger seat, was killed instantly. Her partner was seriously injured./p |
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Still no mystery man ID in Ore. court appearance
Headline Court News |
2010/05/14 03:09
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An Oregon man accused of assuming the identity of a slain Ohio boy has refused to reveal his true name in his latest court appearance.
pFederal prosecutors say the man claiming to be Jason Robert Evers — the name of the dead boy — must be hiding something but he will not say what it is./ppHe is listed as John Doe in court documents, including the criminal complaint charging him with providing false information on a passport application leading to his arrest in Idaho last month./ppThe man has worked for the last eight years as an Oregon liquor control investigator, but has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of his case./ppHe was extradited from Idaho this week and made his initial appearance in federal court in Oregon on Thursday./p |
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NY court axes suit vs. label over Remy Ma shooting
Headline Court News |
2010/05/13 09:10
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| A New York appeals court has rebuffed an attempt to hold Remy Ma's former record label accountable for the rapper's shooting of an acquaintance in 2007.pTuesday's ruling notes that a Universal Music Group Inc. affiliate ended its contract with Remy Ma nine months before she shot Makeda Barnes-Joseph outside a Manhattan nightclub./ppThe Grammy Award-nominated rapper was convicted of assault and other charges. She's serving an eight-year prison sentence./ppBarnes-Joseph's lawyer says she's disappointed by the ruling. A lawyer for Remy Ma had no immediate comment. A lawyer for Universal didn't immediately return a call./ppThe appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss Barnes-Joseph's case against Universal and various affiliates. She also is suing the rapper and the club./p |
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San Francisco law firm seeks dismissal of Thornburg lawsuit
Headline Court News |
2010/05/05 09:00
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pA San Francisco law firm, which was sued by the bankruptcy trustee in charge of liquidating Thornburg Mortgage, has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, calling it long on rhetoric but short on facts./ppThe trustee's lawsuit filed in March named attorney Karen Dempsey of Orrick, Herrington amp; Sutcliffe and the firm itself as part of an alleged conspiracy that involved four top Thornburg executives improperly paying themselves handsome bonuses just before the mortgage lender filed for bankruptcy last year./ppIn court papers filed on Monday, the law firm said the complaint did not show that Dempsy knew about the allegedly improper conduct of the executives./ppUsing novel theories of conspiracy and aiding and abetting, the trustee seeks to impose what would be unprecedented 'vicarious' liability on special counsel for a debtor, the filing said.
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