Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where the competitor of a company that develops surgical implant devices agreed, in a prior licensing agreement, to not challenge the validity of certain of the implant maker’s patents, that promise extended to a subsidiary later acquired by the competitor. ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Mark S. Davis U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although Cisco argued it was entitled to a new trial because a prior ruling ordering it to pay $1.9 billion for infringing a startup’s cybersecurity patents included new theories of infringement and damages not presented by the plaintiff, the infringement ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where one party to a partnership agreement retained an appraiser to value the partnership over the other partner’s objection, and then purportedly exercised its option to purchase the other partner’s interest based upon that valuation, a jury will decide if ...

Tagged with: Commercial Judge John A. Gibney Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where an owner’s decades of familiarity with his property enabled him to form an opinion of its value based on comparable property sales, his intended testimony regarding a technical valuation by an undisclosed expert and about which he lacked knowledge ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Commercial

Where French trial and appellate courts previously declared the French Republic, and not a California company, is the rightful owner of the domain name France.com, the French Republic was immune from France.com’s trademark and cybersquatting suit. Background In 1994, a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Intellectual Property Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where five Chapter 13 debtors asserted “numerous and novel RICO claims” against Wells Fargo after it put their mortgages into forbearance as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the CARES Act, the reference to the adversary proceeding was withdrawn ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

IBM unsuccessfully argued that its subcontractors’ breach of contract suit alleging it failed to pay them for options years violated an anti-assignment provision in its terms and conditions, constituted an unenforceable penalty or was contrary to a limitation of liability ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Glen E. Conrad U.S. District Court - Western District

Two companies that falsely advertised a new generic probiotic was essentially the same as an eight-strain probiotic formulation the plaintiff invented in the 1990s are liable for the $15 million awarded by the jury. Background In this consolidated appeal, VSL ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Intellectual Property

The inventor of a portable drain cleaning tool has sued its former distribution partner, alleging it breached a nondisclosure agreement and used confidential information to develop a competing product.  Background Plaintiffs C. Charles Gallo, CDC Products Inc. and Quality Innovations ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Glen E. Conrad U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a food manufacturer prevailed on its breach of contract counterclaim because its contract with a food buyer was unambiguous, the decision was affirmed. The decision found that even if the contract was ambiguous, it led to the same result, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract Judge G. Steven Agee