The common-law doctrine of equivalents extends a patent's protection to cover certain similar devices that do not literally infringe on the patent's claims. Broad application of this doctrine can, however, create uncertainty as to how substantial an improvement a competitor must make to avoid...

This article is about the pharma patent litigation sparked by Lundbeck’s blockbuster drug for 'escitalopram', a drug used for treating depression and generalized anxiety disorder. The article focuses on the trials and tribulations before the Dutch Patent Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court,...

Courts are rarely asked to judge beauty. Such a subjective practice would normally be anathema to the ideal of objective legal standards. However, one area of federal law has a long tradition of explicitly requiring courts to make aesthetic decisions: the law of design. New designs may be...

Many have argued that thought should constitute per se unpatentable subject matter, and some have even suggested that any patent claim that includes a mental step should lie outside patentability. Many courts have long disagreed with such a draconian rule, and have instead upheld myriad patent...

Over the course of its multi-decade existence, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") has been amended to cover many diverse yet related “real estate” subjects. In its present iteration, two provisions — sections 2605(g) and 2609 — deal with mortgage escrow accounts, with...

The rapid rise of cryptocurrencies over the last twenty years has interjected havoc into the staid field of commercial law, one long regulated by the Uniform Commercial Code (“U.C.C.” or “UCC”). Naturally, many individuals and organizations started to count their stash of...

As businesses and other entities have sought to collect more personal data on individuals, the public has pushed back, and lawmakers throughout the United States and elsewhere have responded by passing data protection laws. Recent data protection laws passed by the European Union and by several...

In this article the author outlines some difficulties facing the cyber-shopper. These include the practical difficulties of enforcement and redress which arise when a cyber-shopper purchases a defective product from an overseas supplier, or when misleading information is placed on the internet...

Although federally- and state- chartered corporations function similarly, federal law privileges the former in at least one significant respect: their access to this nation’s federal courts. Pursuant to the language now codified in Section 1332 of the twenty-eighth title of the United States...