Today, on Tax Day, President Obama will meet with several working families, just like the ones all across America, who are facing tough choices during this economic crisis. President Obama underscored his commitment to a simpler tax code that rewards work and the pursuit...
In a March 24, 2009 Open Letter to Health Care Providers, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (OIG) limited the scope of disclosures under the federal physician self-referral law that it will accept under its Provider...
On March 23, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (“The Court”) issued proposed local rules for handling patent cases, continuing a trend that began in the Northern District of California in 2001. Since 2001, federal courts across the country...
Sverre Roang has asked his colleague, Lisa Lange, to let us know about an interesting wrinkle in the economic stimulus plan (also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which we will refer to in this column as the "Recovery Act") that could be...
Legislation that would create a national cyber security czar reporting directly to the White House was introduced April 1 by U.S. Senators John D. Rockefeller (D-WVA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The new position would serve as the government's top official on all cyber security matters,...
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. will acquire Metavante Technologies Inc. under an agreement announced today. Both company's boards approved an agreement for the stock deal that will combine the financial service firms to create the world's largest provider of comprehensive integrated payment and financial core...
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday declined to consider reinstating Virginia's tough anti-spam law, leaving in place a lower court ruling that threw out the measure as unconstitutional. The high court's decision ends the legal odyssey of the 2003 anti-spam law, one of the nation's first,...
Another race for Wisconsin Supreme Court and another round of ads, from candidates and special interests alike, that would have voters believe the April 7 general election is about being “tough on crime.” Sure, criminal cases are among the 100 or so cases reviewed...
Recently, patent reform legislation has been introduced into the House of Representatives and the Senate. The proposed legislation in both houses of Congress is referred to as the Patent Reform Act of 2009 (“Patent Reform Act”). The Patent Reform Act is the latest attempt at...
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed-in part and has vacated-in-part the District Court ruling that permanently enjoined the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from implementing the Office’s new rules relating to limitations on (A) the number of continuing patent...