On January 23, 2006, in Unitherm Food Systems, Inc. v. Swift-Eckrich, Inc., the Supreme Court continued its trend of requiring strict compliance with procedural litigation rules. After respondent ConAgra warned companies selling equipment and processes for browning precooked meats that it intended to protect its rights under its patent for that process, petitioner Unitherm, whose president had invented the process six years before ConAgra filed its patent application, sued ConAgra for a Walker P

Nearly every client is a consumer of long-distance or toll telephone services and has paid federal communications excise taxes and state and local excise taxes on those services (and for similar data line, cell phone and Blackberry services). If you have not already filed refund claims for these excise taxes, you may want to consider doing so, soon.

On May 18, 2006, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued a 539-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NOPR") that proposes changes to the regulations and pro forma open access transmission tariff ("OATT") originally adopted in Order Nos. 888 and 889. This NOPR seeks to correct "deficiencies" in the OATT that have become apparent since Order Nos. 888 and 889 were adopted.

On March 16, 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that a record number of domain name dispute complaints were filed with WIPO in 2008.

In assessing credit risk, energy traders most often deal with the risk of default by other energy-related companies. There is, however, another class of counterparties that are very active in forward contracts and swaps: municipalities.

On June 10, 2010, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations relating to the time and order of the issuance of domestic relations orders.

The President of NASD Dispute Resolution, Inc., Linda Feinberg, issued guidance to NASD arbitrators on a variety of subjects of potential importance to the industry during a conference call on June 28, 2005.

One year after being proposed by the Obama Administration and after months of negotiation, which ended in an all-night conference session of key legislators, a final version of financial regulatory reform legislation has been produced.

As we approach the midway point of 2010, plan sponsors should be aware of amendments that may be required to be made by the end of the year under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 (HEART Act), the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA), and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

In Notice 2005-58, the Internal Revenue Service provided, pending further guidance, relief for section 457 plans maintained by federal credit unions.

On April 11, 2006, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or the "Commission") Administrative Law Judge Herbert Grossman ("ALJ") issued an initial decision in the AES v. FGT proceeding.

Yesterday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unanimously approved amendments to Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) and related forms and rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SEC has yet to announce the effective date of the amendments.

The Obama Administration yesterday issued a Presidential Memorandum on government contracting that is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal procurement system.

On September 9, 2005, in Symbol Technologies, Inc. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("Federal Circuit") upheld a district court’s finding that the Lemelson Foundation’s widely asserted "machine vision" patents are unenforceable based upon the doctrine of prosecution laches.

In its first individual prohibited transaction exemption published in 2006, the Labor Department conditionally authorized a broker-dealer to sweep uninvested IRA funds to a Free Credit Balance account, permitting the broker-dealer the use of those funds in its operations. PTE 2006-1, 53 Fed. Reg. 14005 (March 20, 2006) .

The IRS provided a Valentine’s Day present to companies with patent cross licenses by issuing Rev. Proc. 2007-23, in which the IRS announced limited taxation of such patent cross licensing arrangements. Under Rev. Proc. 2007-23, the IRS announced that a patent cross licensing arrangement in which no cash was exchanged would not be subject to taxation.

On March 1, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler before a packed courtroom. Counsel for the two petitioners – DaimlerChrysler and the State of Ohio – and for the respondents – the Cuno plaintiffs group – engaged in lively exchanges with the Justices concerning the proper scope of standing to challenge a state tax credit in the federal courts, as well as the merits of the respondents’ underlying Commerce Clause challenge to Ohio’s Investment Tax Credit (ITC)

On February 9, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major setback to the Obama Administration's efforts to curb emissions of carbon dioxide from existing power plants in the U.S. In a 5-4 split decision.