Today the U.S. Senate endorsed all provisions in H.R. 1249: Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, a comprehensive patent reform bill, the progress of which we have reported in earlier alerts.

On December 6, 2012, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection ("CFPB") and the Department of Justice ("DOJ") announced that the two agencies had signed a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") regarding coordination on the oversight and enforcement of federal fair lending laws, including the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ("ECOA"), Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act ("HMDA").

Since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act") was passed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and various other regulatory agencies, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC"), the Federal Reserve Board (the "Federal Reserve"), and the Department of the Treasury (the "Treasury"), have been busy proposing and finalizing rules to implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Shortly before the end of the year, the Federal Trade Commission published revisions to the COPPA Rule, issued pursuant to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.

Regulation of the cosmetics industry has garnered significant national attention in recent months.

In two highly anticipated decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court both clarified and reshaped how the law of personal jurisdiction applies to foreign corporations selling their products to customers in the United States.

On July 8, 2011 and July 11, 2011, the Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Seventh Circuit, respectively, handed down decisions concerning the scope of liability under the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS").

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or the "Commission") has recently taken significant action with regard to transmission incentives, planning and cost allocation.

On July 25, 2011, the California Air Resources Board ("ARB") released its proposed final cap-and-trade regulations, initiating a 15-day public comment period on the specifics of a cap-and-trade program slated to start in 2012, with compliance obligations beginning in 2013.

On August 3, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an opinion vacating a preliminary injunction that had been granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sandoz, Inc. (collectively, "Momenta").

Title I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("DFA") extends the purview of federal bank regulators beyond the traditional supervision of insured depository institutions and their holding companies to include oversight of systemically significant nonbank financial companies.

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") joined the three federal banking agencies, the Federal Reserve Board ("FRB"), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") (collectively, the "Agencies"), in issuing an interagency proposal on the so-called "Volcker Rule" under the Dodd-Frank Act.

On October 12, 2012, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission promulgated rules that allow Chinese insurance companies to make overseas investments.

A discussion on a number of cases on significant issues relating to various aspects of intellectual property law.

Following a protracted, controversial and hard-fought political battle to block or delay its issuance, the Federal Reserve Board ("FRB").

Two notable decisions were issued this month in the long-standing litigation campaign between Chevron Corporation, a group of Ecuadorian plaintiffs alleging environmental injuries from oil exploration and production activities in Ecuador, and the Republic of Ecuador.

The Supreme Court has recently visited a corner of the antitrust map that it last glimpsed during the Reagan Administration, the state action doctrine.

On February 27, 2013, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds relating to whether plaintiffs invoking the "fraud-on-the-market" presumption of reliance must establish the element of materiality before obtaining class certification in federal securities class actions.