U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property
Are PTO attorney fees expenses under Section 145?
By B. Todd Patterson, Kyrie K. Cameron
The issue before the Supreme Court is: Whether the phrase “[a]ll the expenses of the proceedings” in Section 145 encompasses t...
U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property
High court to consider appealability issues in IPR proceedings
By Charan Brahma, Craig Crockett
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider appealability of timeliness determinations within inter partes review proceedings under 3...
Letters, Labor/Employment
AB 5 language will cause unexpected disruption
By David Amkraut
Whether or not Assembly Bill 5 was really aimed only at the “gig economy,” its absurdly broad language will cause widespread a...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
High court to clarify standing to enforce conflict of interest law
By Michael G. Colantuono
On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will resolve a split in authority on standing to...
Judges and Judiciary, Civil Rights
Judicial Council has been misinforming about the ADA
By Thomas F. Coleman
The Judicial Council has been misinforming the judiciary about the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act since t...
Family
Are assisted reproduction children included in your dynasty trust?
By Kristine Knaplund
With thousands of children born each year using assisted insemination, in vitro fertilization, gestational carriers, many cour...
Immigration, Government, Constitutional Law
Federal judges shut down Trump administration in 3 immigration cases
By Stephen F. Rohde
Impeachment isn’t the only trouble President Donald Trump is facing. Last Friday, three different federal judges rejected his ...
An appellate opinion's primary purpose is to resolve whatever dispute the parties have brought to the court. And yet there are...
Securities, Corporate
A primer on preferred: Getting your yield’s worth
By Sara L. Terheggen
The difficult aspect of investing in preferred stock is understanding what characteristics are best suitable depending on an i...
State Bar & Bar Associations
The ABA could learn from California about online legal education
By Martin H. Pritikin
The State Bar of California recently amended its rules to allow distance learning law schools to apply for state accreditation...
This year I authored Senate Bill 17 to mitigate some of the gamesmanship that has become endemic in civil litigation. The meas...
Civil Litigation, Insurance, California Supreme Court
California high court is weighing significant coverage issue
By Rachel E. Hobbs
In Yahoo! Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, S253593, the California Supreme Court is considering a ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Are customized arbitration provisions the answer?
By Julie R. F. Gerchik, Michael L. Smith
While arbitration may risk unbridled discretion by the arbitrator or ultimately involve the same inefficiency of traditional l...
The potential ramifications in conflicts involving trusts are significant
Intellectual Property
Can the U.S. Patent Office handle 'artificial inventors'?
By David V. Sanker Ph.D, Jianbai "Jenn" Wang Ph.D
Over the past 230 years, patent law has adapted to accommodate new types of technology. The adaptations can be slow, inconsis...
In a 4-3 decision, and after many months of deliberation, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling on Sept. 16 in Bru...
Intellectual Property, Corporate
The scourge enveloping Silicon Valley: trade secret theft
By Lawrence M. Hadley, Christopher N. McAndrew
As recent cases have exposed, trade secret theft from former employees and potential business partners have become a scourge i...
During the middle of his tenure, Attorney General Jeff Sessions promulgated meta-guidance: guidance on guidance documents. Unl...
Labor/Employment, Government
AB 9 and AB 1510 may have greater ramifications than initially advertised
By Tao Y. Leung
Much of the discussion lately has been centered on AB 5, California's new worker classification law, but there are other bills...
A bill on the governor's desk would allow California athletes to finally earn name, image and likeness compensation
Tax, Government, Constitutional Law
The ongoing battle for Trump’s tax returns
By Charles S. Doskow
After argument, on September 19 the federal judge in Sacramento and granted the injunction on the enforcement of California's ...
Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property
Survey says: Not so fast in secondary meaning cases
By Antonio R. Sarabia II
Judges and Judiciary, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
How to hold misbehaving judges accountable
By Dylan Hosmer-Quint
Judges should be held to the highest of ethical standards, and there's no reason they should keep a reward, like a pension, if...
U.S. Supreme Court, Government, Constitutional Law, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Definitional theft as government policy? Not so fast
By Michael M. Berger
It should have come as no surprise when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals looked askance on a definitional game played by ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
An innocuous Supreme Court case could be a blockbuster
By Daniel Ortner
A bankruptcy proceeding isn’t ordinarily what you think of as a Supreme Court blockbuster. But when the bankruptcy proceeding ...
Legal publications abound with articles about the benefits of working as an in-house attorney. Being in-house, however, brings...
Labor/Employment, Government, California Supreme Court
AB 5: Time to get Uber it and move on
By Ronald L. Zambrano
The reports of Uber’s death, to paraphrase Mark Twain, are greatly exaggerated. When Governor Newsom signed AB 5 into law, he ...
Tax, Civil Litigation
Purdue settlements and others as tax deductions
By Robert W. Wood
In America, litigation and lawyers are costs of doing business. Businesses can and do deduct their legal costs. And in most ca...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Anti-SLAPP: The catchall that caught too much
By Jason D. Russell, Hillary A. Hamilton
In three recent decisions, the California Supreme Court appears to have launched a campaign to curb the broad application of C...
Government, Civil Rights
Housing is a human right: A right to counsel for tenants
By Skip Koenig
The Los Angeles City Council is on the verge of enacting our own Right to Counsel Program, providing legal counsel to tenants ...