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Inflation Reduction Act
Supreme Court Allows Fifth Circuit Ruling on Private FLSA Settlements to Stand
On December 10, 2012, the United States Supreme Court declined to review a recent ruling of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which approved a private settlement of employees' claims for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)...
Lame-Duck Patent Reform Goes Almost Entirely Unnoticed
With most lawmakers focused on the so called "fiscal cliff" during the current lame duck session of Congress, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) has quietly once again proposed legislation to reform the United States patent system. This time, few seem to...
New USPTO Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Satellite Office Finds Home in Downtown Dallas Location
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced that downtown Dallas will serve as the site for its Dallas-Fort Worth regional satellite office. The office is expected to be a place where small businesses and entrepreneurs can learn how...
FTC Defers to State Resolution of Competitive Concerns Arising Out of Acquisition of Natural Gas Assets
On November 7, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had closed its investigation of Hilcorp Alaska LLC's proposed $375M acquisition of Marathon Oil Company's Cook Inlet, Alaska natural gas production, storage, and pipeline assets, despite identifying several competitive concerns...
What's in Store for Offshore Energy After the 2012 Election
President Obama describes his energy policy as an "All of the Above" approach that encourages production of traditional fossil fuels while supporting the growth of renewables. Despite an increase in overall U.S. energy production over the past four years, output...
Chancery Court Endorses Predictive Coding
Signaling the growing acceptance of predictive coding of electronically stored information - a process by which computer algorithms determine whether a document is relevant - the Delaware Chancery Court this month for the first time endorsed its use. The case...
CFTC Provides a Bit of Last-Minute Breathing Room on Swaps Regulation
On Friday October 12, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) regulations defining the term "swap" took effect, triggering a cascade of new regulatory requirements pursuant to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) for entities holding...
Gunning for the Supreme Court: A "Substantial" Case "Arising" from Texas That Means More Than You Think!
On Friday, October 5, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Gunn v. Minton , 1 seeking to address whether the Federal Circuit and other courts following its lead have departed from the Supreme Court's "arising under" jurisdiction standard...
Texas Workforce Commission: New Employment Record Requirement
On September 28, 2012, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) proposed a new rule that would require all employers to create and maintain job descriptions for anyone who performed services for the employer over the last four years. Specifically, the TWC...
Employer's Routine Requests to Employees to Keep Internal Investigation Matters Confidential Found Unlawful by NLRB
On July 30, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that a non-union employer’s practice of routinely advising its employees not to discuss ongoing internal investigation matters with their coworkers violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act...
D.C. Circuit Appeals Court Vacates EPA's Cross-State Rule as Legally Flawed
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today vacated the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) as an unlawful exercise of EPA authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Court also said that...
New America Invents Act Provisions Set to Become Effective in September 2012
The switch to a modified first-inventor-to-file system will not take place until March 16, 2013, but notably several provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) will take effect in one month, on September 16, 2012. The U.S. Patent and...
Sixth Circuit to EPA: Decades of NSR Aggregation/Single Source Applicability Determinations Have Been Wrong
On August 7, 2012, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an important decision that reined in EPA's efforts to try to aggregate oil and gas emissions sources. In Summit Petroleum Corporation v. United States Environmental Protection Agency...
Latest Chapter in New York Market Manipulation Case: Court OKs Morgan Stanley's $4.8 Million Settlement
On August 7, 2012, U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III granted the Department of Justice Antitrust Division's (DOJ) motion for entry of a consent decree requiring Morgan Stanley to disgorge $4.8 million for its role in an allegedly illegal...
USPTO Opens a Satellite Patent Office in Dallas
On July 2, 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the selection of Dallas, Texas as the location for one of its satellite patent offices, and it was the sole southern city chosen. The Dallas satellite office...