Keep Your Briefs Brief, LA Federal Judges Tell IP Lawyers

By Rachel Scharf

A group of Los Angeles federal judges urged local intellectual property lawyers during a courthouse panel Wednesday to keep their briefs succinct and not repeat the same points verbatim during oral arguments.

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Trump Wants 'Immediate Dismissal' Of NY Hush Money Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

President-elect Donald Trump's legal team told the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial that his conviction should be thrown out due to his "overwhelming victory" at the polls, according to a filing released Wednesday.

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Pa. Jury Finds Clothing Co. Infringed Penn State Trademarks

By Matthew Santoni

Online retailer Vintage Brand infringed Pennsylvania State University's trademarks by selling unlicensed merchandise with "historic" images associated with the university, a Keystone State federal jury has found.

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Archegos Founder Gets 18 Years For Massive Market Fraud

By Stewart Bishop

Bill Hwang, the founder of collapsed hedge fund Archegos, was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in prison after he was convicted of lying to banks in order to secure billions of dollars in loans used to manipulate the market.

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Bankman-Fried Tech Deputy Who Parsed Code Avoids Prison

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge allowed tech expert Zixiao "Gary" Wang to avoid jail Wednesday for his role in the $11 billion FTX fraud, crediting his effort to detail programming "back doors" that enabled Sam Bankman-Fried to loot the bankrupt crypto exchange.

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Girardi Pushes For New Trial Over Competency Claims

By Cara Salvatore

Counsel for Tom Girardi told a federal judge the disbarred attorney is plainly mentally incompetent and deserves a new trial over charges he defrauded clients of $15 million worth of settlement money.

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'Ambush' At Patent Trial Led To $22M Loss, ASUS Says

By Rae Ann Varona

Taiwanese computer company ASUSTeK and the California owner of patents it infringed lambasted each other in post-trial motions filed in Texas federal court, with ASUS seeking to vacate a $22 million verdict due to the patentee's "ambush" tactics, and the patentee wanting its award doubled for ASUS' "pirate-like behavior."

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Brief

'Fat Leonard' To Appeal 15-Year Sentence Over Navy Bribery

By Rae Ann Varona

A Malaysian defense contractor and ex-fugitive who pled guilty nearly 10 years ago to a bribery scheme that authorities said cost the U.S. Navy over $20 million has indicated in California federal court that he will appeal his 15-year sentence to the Ninth Circuit.

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Texas Court Tosses $800K Verdict In Bar Shooting Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appeals court has thrown out a jury's $816,000 verdict in a suit blaming a bar for serving alcohol to an underage man who later shot two patrons multiple times, saying there was insufficient evidence that the attack was foreseeable.

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How AstraZeneca Ruling Could Change Dosage Patent Claims

If affirmed on appeal, the rationale employed by the Delaware federal court in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca to find "unit dosage"-related patent claims invalid could lead to a significant paradigm shift in how active-ingredient-focused patent applications are drafted and litigated, say Matthew Zapadka and John Schneible at Arnall Golden.

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BigLaw Begins Matching Milbank On Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Following the news Tuesday that Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP will pay associates year-end and special bonuses in line with those handed out by Milbank LLP this year, the firms' peers have begun to respond, with swift matches Wednesday by Paul Hastings LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

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DOJ Settles With Atty Who Reported Judge's Sexual Misconduct

By Lauren Berg

A former Alaska federal prosecutor who made allegations of sexual misconduct against then-U.S. District Judge Joshua Kindred has reached an undisclosed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice resolving claims she suffered retaliation for speaking up, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday.

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Foley Shouldn't Face Data Breach Claims, Calif. Panel Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of Accellion Inc.'s cross-complaint against law firm Foley & Lardner LLP in an insurance company's lawsuit claiming the software-maker should be held liable for a $1 million ransomware attack that targeted the law firm, finding that Accellion's cross-claims are untimely.

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Weil Litigation Leaders Jump To Paul Weiss In NY

By Tracey Read

The co-chair of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's global litigation department and the co-head of Weil's patent litigation practice will soon be joining Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, the latter firm announced Wednesday.

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Akerman Opens In Charlotte With 2 Moore & Van Allen Hires

By Xiumei Dong

Akerman LLP announced Wednesday the firm opened its second North Carolina office in Charlotte and brought on two new partners from Moore & Van Allen PLLC, including the former head of its renewable energy project finance team and a tax law expert.

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Judiciary Touts Reforms In Handling Workplace Complaints

By Ryan Boysen

The federal judiciary is successfully reforming the controversial process that aims to protect its 30,000 employees from sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a new internal report released Wednesday, even as lawmakers have called for scrapping that process altogether and replacing it with a new one.

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Musk, Ramaswamy Say High Court Rulings OK Federal Cuts

By Lauren Berg

Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump's picks to lead a newly created "Department of Government Efficiency," on Wednesday said two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings will give them the authority to cut off power to regulatory agencies and conduct massive federal layoffs.

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House Dem Proposes Vote Forcing Release Of Gaetz Report

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten on Wednesday introduced a resolution that would require the House of Representatives to vote on whether the House Ethics Committee must release its report on the allegations against former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a proposal unveiled the same day the ethics committee failed to reach a consensus.

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Fed. Judges Still Seek New Bench Seats Amid Dems' Loss

By Courtney Bublé

The Federal Judges Association is urging the House to pass the bipartisan bill that would expand the federal courts in order to meet rising caseloads, even as the Biden administration appears to be cooling on the idea it once supported.

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Calif. Judicial Nominee Asked About Race, Parenting Writings

By Courtney Bublé

A California judicial nominee's previous writing about the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked a national reckoning on race, was the subject of debate during a Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday.

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Washington State, DC District Court Picks Secure Seats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Wednesday voted 50-48 to confirm Washington Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca L. Pennell to the Eastern District of Washington and 50-49 to confirm Amir Ali, former president and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center and co-director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School, to the District of Columbia.

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