As the Supreme Court opens its 2011 Term, Gibson Dunn’s Supreme Court Round-Up is summarizing the issues presented in cases that will be argued, as well as other key developments at the Court. The Court has already accepted nearly fifty cases for argument this Term, including five cases in which Gibson Dunn is involved. With arguments scheduled to begin next week, the Round-Up provides a snapshot of the issues that are at the forefront of the Court’s docket.Spearheaded by former Solicitor General Theodore B.
September 30, 2011
On September 20, 2011, Judge Lucy H. Koh of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order in In re iPhone Application Litigation, Case No.
September 27, 2011
After more than six years of negotiation, patent reform is here. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which President Obama signed into law on September 16, 2011, is nearly 60 pages long and revises a broad swath of patent law. Summaries, reviews, and commentaries abound on the web, and patent law practitioners have a plethora of resources describing technical amendments and effective dates. This short overview is not for them; it is instead intended to capture some of the highlights for business leaders and general counsel who are wondering how the changes may affect their IP strategy and their patent litigation portfolios. One caveat: Some provisions of the new law go into effect immediately, while others will be implemented over a longer period.
September 22, 2011
Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has grown exponentially in recent years, and shows no signs of abating. The DOJ and SEC, the U.S.
September 21, 2011
On August 24, 2011, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Government of India ("IT Ministry"), through the Press Information Bureau, issued a press note ("Press Note") containing certain clarifications to the Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011 ("Data Privacy Rules") issued earlier in the year.
September 9, 2011
Orange County associates Ryan Card and James Sabovich are the authors of "CEQA Fireworks" [PDF] published by Law360 at www.law360.com on September 8, 2011.
September 8, 2011
San Francisco partner Austin Schwing and associate Matthew Kahn are the authors of "The Perils of Collecting Information at the Register" published on the ABA's Class Actions & Derivative Suits Committee website on September 8, 2011.
September 8, 2011
On August 23, 2011, Judge Richard S. Sullivan of the Southern District of New York issued a decision in Gucci America, Inc. v. Li, No. 10 Civ. 4974 (RJS) granting the plaintiffs' motion to compel the production of counterfeiters' bank records from non-party Bank of China.
September 6, 2011
On September 1, 2011, the Governor of California signed into law California Assembly Bill No. 571 ("AB 571"), which will liberalize and streamline the legal standards for California corporations and quasi-California corporations to make cash and property distributions to shareholders, including dividends and share repurchases and redemptions.
September 6, 2011
Dallas partner James Ho is the author of “Would U.S. Be Ready for a Repeat of 9/11?" [PDF] published in the September 4, 2011 issue of The Dallas Morning News.
September 4, 2011
New York partner Lee Dunst and associates Michael Diamant and Teresa Kung, are the authors of "Hot Off the Press: Resetting the Global Anti‑Corruption Thermostat to the UK Bribery Act" [PDF] published in September 2011 issue of Business Law International.This article was first published in Business Law International, Vol 12 No 3, September 2011, and is reproduced by kind permission of the International Bar Association, London, UK.
September 1, 2011
Washington, D.C. partner Karen L. Manos is the author of "Special Allocations Under the Cost Accounting Standards" published in the September 2011 issue of Thomson Reuters' Government Contract Costs, Pricing & Accounting Report.
September 1, 2011
Washington, D.C. partner Judith Lee and associate James Doody are the authors of "Office of Foreign Assets Control: The Little Agency with a Big Bite" [PDF] published in The Review of Banking & Financial Services in August 2011.
August 30, 2011
Two recent developments illustrate the importance of adaptable and decisive OFAC compliance programs. The first development was President Obama's August 17, 2011 Executive Order 13582, which considerably tightened U.S.
August 30, 2011
As we reported in our 2011 Mid-Year Merger Enforcement Update, federal courts are currently reviewing a number of cases that could have a significant impact on the antitrust analysis of mergers and acquisitions. Two noteworthy circuit court decisions were handed down recently. In City of New York v. Group Health Inc., No.
August 29, 2011
Dallas partner James Ho is the author of “Federalism and Medical Malpractice Reform” [PDF] published in the August 29, 2011 issue of the National Law Journal.
August 29, 2011
On August 16, 2011, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") issued a Concept Release on Auditor Independence and Audit Firm Rotation ("Concept Release"). The Concept Release, available at http://pcaobus.org/Rules/Rulemaking/Docket037/Release_2011-006.pdf, solicits public comment on steps it could take under its existing authority to enhance auditor independence, objectivity, and professional skepticism, including, most notably, imposing for the first time mandatory audit firm rotation on public companies.The deadline for submitting comments to the PCAOB is December 14, 2011, and the PCAOB will host a public "roundtable" discussion in March 2012 to hear from interested parties. Any rule ultimately proposed by the PCAOB would have to
August 19, 2011
New York partner Jonathan C. Dickey and associate Brian M. Lutz are authors of "The SEC's Final Whistleblower Rules: The Floodgates Open on a New Wave of Whistleblower Claims, as the SEC Authorizes Massive Bounties to Anonymous Tipsters" [PDF] published in the July/August 2011 issue of Thomson Reuters' Securities Litigation Report.
August 12, 2011
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (the HIRE Act), in an effort to reduce the evasion of U.S.
August 9, 2011
As was the case in 2010, antitrust enforcers in the United States and Europe have continued to make headlines by intervening in major merger cases and launching new policy initiatives. While M&A activity on both sides of the Atlantic continues to recover from the global financial crisis, it appears that antitrust enforcers are placing a higher priority on merger enforcement, a pattern that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.This Update covers notable merger enforcement trends and cases in the United States, European Union, and the rest of the world. THE UNITED STATESIt has been an eventful year in U.S.
August 9, 2011