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Suquamish Tribe Can Fish Outside Usual Areas
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2009/08/10 13:46
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Courthouse News reports the Suquamish Tribe can fish in Puget Sound areas outside their traditional grounds, the 9th Circuit ruled, explaining that a 1978 federal court decision clearly allowed the tribe to fish in Saratoga Passage and Skagit Bay.
The Skagit Tribe and federal government challenged the Suquamish Tribe's fishing in these Puget Sound zones, as the Suquamish only recently changed their fishing patterns to include these areas.
The Suquamish Tribe, along with the state of Washington, appealed US District Judge Ricardo Martinez's grant of summary judgment to the Skagit Tribe.
The 9th Circuit found that the 1978 decision, written by now-deceased US District Judge Boldt, unambiguously defined the Puget Sound as bounded from the northern tip of Vashon Island to the Fraser River. This clearly includes Saratoga Passage and Skagit Bay, the appeals court said, as these regions lie in the sound's center. |
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Court Overturns $2.5M Patent Award For Exergen
Headline Topics |
2009/08/07 08:41
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According to Courthouse News, the Federal Circuit reversed a $2.5 million award for Exergen in a patent dispute over infrared thermometers.
Systems Application of Advanced Technology (SAAT) makes radiation-detecting thermometers that allegedly infringe on Exergen's patents. The thermometer detects radiation from skin near the temple on a person's forehead and converts the reading to the patient's oral temperature.
The case proceeded to trial, and the jury awarded Exergen $2.5 million in lost profits, finding that SAAT had directly violated two patents and induced infringement of a third patent. The jury also rejected SAAT's defense that the patents weren't valid.
However, as the case was appealed, both the circuit court and the district court agreed that SAAT's argument, known as inequitable conduct, requires it to identify the who, what, where and how of the alleged misrepresentation or omission. In this regard, SAAT's pleading fell short, Judge Linn concluded.
The court reversed the final judgment for Exergen on validity and infringement, and dismissed SAAT's inequitable conduct claim. |
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Navy Can Keep Weapons Files Secret, Court Says
Headline Topics |
2009/08/06 09:13
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Courthouse News reports that the US Navy does not have to disclose the locations and potential blast ranges of military weapons stored on a small island in Puget Sound, a 9th Circuit panel ruled in a 2-1 opinion.
Glen Scott Milner, a lifelong Puget Sound resident and member of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on weapons stored at Washington's Naval Magazine Indian Island. Though the Navy oversees all operations on the island, the weapons are also used by US Joint Forces, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies and allied forces.
Milner managed to buy a section of the Navy's operations manual on the Web - information that the Navy considers restricted, the ruling states. He then sought documents listing the types of weapons and explosives kept on the island and their arc maps, along with safety instructions and operating procedures.
The Navy withheld 81 of the 1,000 files that met his parameters, and Milner filed suit in order to view the remaining documents.
The Seattle-based appellate panel allowed the government to keep those 81 documents confidential, because they fell under FOIA Exemption 2, which protects internal personnel rules and practices. The three-judge panel rejected Milner's attempt to cast the exemption as applying only to law enforcement materials. |
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National Park Security Checkpoints Upheld
Headline Topics |
2009/08/05 09:08
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According to Courthouse News, the 9th Circuit on Tuesday upheld the use of checkpoints at the entrances to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks to stop illegal hunting.
The checkpoints ensnared Ricardo Fraire, who was charged with drunk driving after a ranger smelled alcohol on his breath and observed that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy. Fraire gave the ranger permission to search his vehicle, where the ranger found several open alcohol containers.
Fraire argued that the checkpoint violated his Fourth Amendment right against unlawful search and seizure.
Finding the security stops reasonable, the three-judge panel in San Francisco upheld the lower court's ruling for the government. |
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