News & Publications

The U.S. Supreme Court has once again been urged to revisit 35 U.S.C. § 101, the statute governing patent eligibility. Audio Evolution Diagnostics, Inc. (AED) filed a petition for writ of certiorari, challenging the Federal Circuit's summary affirmance under Rule 36 of a ruling that invalidated its patents under the Alice/Mayo framework. Should the SCOTUS take up the case, this presents an opportunity for the Court to clarify the boundaries of patent eligibility and address [...]

In June 2022, the Federal Circuit overturned a $2.7B judgment for the plaintiff in Centripetal Networks v. Cisco, based on the failure of the presiding judge to recuse himself after he learned that his wife owned stock in the defendant. Similar attempts to reverse judgments due to purported conflicts of interest soon followed—including one from plaintiff CellSpin Soft Inc. Early last year, Northern District of California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers forcefully denied a motion to recuse in which [...]

In a win for employers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week in E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera that employers need only prove an exemption from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by a "preponderance of the evidence" rather than the higher standard of "clear and convincing evidence." Why Does the Standard of Proof Matter to Employers? The FLSA requires most employers to pay employees minimum wage (currently $13.00/hour -- and $9.98/hour for tipped employees [...]