Search Results for: patent

In November of 1985, legendary liberal Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. declared, “the fatal constitutional infirmity of capital punishment is that it treats members of the human race as non-humans, as objects to be toyed with and discarded.” With Alabama primed to gas condemned prisoners to death with nitrogen — and with other [...]

A group of booksellers and publishers filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Texas officials to block House Bill (HB) 900, the state’s new book ratings law. The plaintiffs believe the new law could ban classics like “Romeo and Juliet” and “Of Mice and Men” from state public school classrooms and libraries due to sex-related content. [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Friday in US v. Hansen that 8 U.S.C. §1324(a)(1)(A)(iv), a federal law that criminalizes the encouragement of illegal immigration, does not violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the majority, criticized the lower court ruling, which called the law “overbroad,” saying: Properly interpreted, [...]

Vladimir Putin’s multiple crimes against Ukraine include aggression and genocide. But what happens when these two categories of criminality come together? Among other things, this result is not “merely” additive; it is also synergistic. Hence, the cumulative Russian wrongdoing is actually greater than the calculable sum of its component “parts.” What pertinent connections ought to [...]

The US Supreme Court announced Monday it will take up the trademark case Vidal v. Elster, to determine whether the application of Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act to political figures violates the First Amendment.  The case surrounds the trademark application by Steve Elster for the phrase “Trump Too Small,” which Elster attempted to trademark for [...]

In jurisprudential matters, whether national or international, precedent remains vitally important. When former (and possibly future) US President Donald J. Trump issued illegal pardons to selected American officials for established crimes against international law, the consequences reverberated in other countries. Now, with still-mounting Russian crimes against Ukraine –  crimes of war; crimes against peace; and crimes [...]

It’s an uncommon association, but certain connections have been suggested between sovereignty (the highest form of earthly authority) and offerings of immortality. For the most part, at the level of philosophical investigation, such connections have not always been subtle. Observes G F Hegel (1820) in The Philosophy of Right: “The state is the march of [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Monday found that Apple can proceed with a  lawsuit against the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to challenge a set of instructions given by the PTO Director to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board about patentability reviews. Apple, Cisco, Google, and Intel filed a lawsuit [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday denied an application for review of a federal case involving the largest patent damages award in US history. Plaintiff Centripetal Networks, Inc. attempted to reinstate a $2.75 billion award to be paid by Cisco Systems, Inc. The award was overturned when authorities discovered that the trial court judge had family [...]

The US Supreme Court Friday added four new cases to its docket, including two cases concerning the Navajo Nation’s water rights and two intellectual property law disputes. In Arizona v. Navajo Nation and the Department of the Interior v. Navajo Nation, the court will consider the ongoing dispute over rights to Colorado River water. Arizona [...]