|
|
|
Court declines to block drug ruling in patent case
Legal Focuses |
2014/04/21 13:29
|
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday declined to temporarily block a lower court ruling that opens the world's best-selling multiple sclerosis drug to competition from generic rivals next month.
The decision is a victory for rivals challenging the patents of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., maker of the drug Copaxone.
Teva claims the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit wrongly overturned five of its patents for the drug. That ruling allows rivals Mylan Inc., Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sandoz, Inc., to start selling cheaper generic versions in May instead of September 2015.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider the case, but arguments won't take place until its new term begins in October and it could be next year before a decision is reached. Teva said it would suffer irreparable harm if the appeals court decision was not postponed. Copaxone brought the company $3.2 billion in U.S. sales last year.
In a one-page ruling, Roberts said he was not convinced Teva would suffer such harm. If Teva ultimately prevails in the case, Roberts said, the company would be able to recover damages from the generic rivals for past patent infringement. He acknowledged that Teva has "a fair prospect" of ultimately winning the case at the high court.
Roberts oversees emergency appeals from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears appeals in patent cases. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court rules for environmentalists in water fight
Legal Focuses |
2014/04/17 13:56
|
An appeals court said Wednesday that federal officials should have consulted wildlife agencies about potential harm to a tiny, threatened fish before issuing contracts for water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation violated the Endangered Species Act when it failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service in renewing 41 contracts a decade ago. The appeals court sent the case back to a trial judge for further proceedings.
The ruling arises from one of several lawsuits filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmentalists seeking to protect the Delta smelt. The ruling won't affect water flows because protections for the smelt were kept in place during the lawsuit.
"This about how we are going to manage the water in the future," said Douglas Obegi, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Water-rights holders and government lawyers argued that consultation wasn't necessary because the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was required to renew the contracts and had no discretion over terms of the agreement that would control water levels in the Delta. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oklahoma gay-marriage case before US appeals court
Legal Focuses |
2014/04/17 13:55
|
Court arguments over Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage will center on whether voters singled out gay people for unfair treatment when they overwhelmingly defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Judges at a federal appeals court in Denver will hear arguments Thursday from lawyers representing a couple challenging Oklahoma's ban and the Tulsa County clerk who refused to grant them a license. The judges heard a similar case from Utah last week.
Oklahoma voters approved the ban in 2004 by a 3-1 margin. The Tulsa couple tried to obtain a marriage license shortly afterward.
A federal judge overturned the ban in January, saying it violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Lawyers for the state say voters have a right to set their own laws. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court Rejects Holocaust-Denying Bishop's Appeal
Legal Focuses |
2014/04/15 13:33
|
A German court has rejected an ultraconservative British bishop's appeal against his conviction and fine for denying the Holocaust in a television interview.
The state court in Nuremberg said Friday it found no legal errors in a January 2013 decision by judges in nearby Regensburg to convict Richard Williamson of incitement and fine him 1,800 euros ($2,500).
It was Williamson's second appeal against the ruling and follows a lengthy legal saga — an earlier conviction was overturned on procedural grounds.
Williamson told a Swedish TV station in during a 2008 interview conducted near Regensburg that he didn't believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.
A traditionalist breakaway Catholic group, the Society of St. Pius X, expelled Williamson in 2012. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Man pleads guilty to sea cucumber smuggling charge
Legal Focuses |
2014/03/10 13:43
|
Federal prosecutors in San Diego say a man has pleaded guilty to charges he smuggled 100 pounds of dried sea cucumber into the United States from Mexico.
Sea cucumbers are leathery-skinned marine animals used in some folk medicine practices.
United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy says Cheng Zhuo Liu (chuhng joo-oh lee-oo), a resident of Chula Vista, admitted to tucking the sea cucumbers into the spare tire area of his car before crossing the border last October.
According to the US attorney's office, their market value was between $5,000 and $10,000.
The particular species Liu had is protected under international trade rules, and requires a permit for import.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court upholds $185 million award against Argentina
Legal Focuses |
2014/03/07 14:58
|
The Supreme Court has upheld a British natural gas company's multimillion dollar award against the government of Argentina.
BG Group won $185 million through arbitration of a dispute with Argentina over investment in natural gas development. An arbitration tribunal said the company did not have to first submit the dispute to Argentine courts before arbitration could begin.
Argentina asked a U.S. court to throw out the award. The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., sided with Argentina because it found that judges, not arbitrators, should decide where attempts to resolve the dispute should begin.
But the Supreme Court said Wednesday the arbitrators get to make that call and that they were correct to rule in favor of BG Group in this case. |
|
|
|
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
