Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jun-03-2002
Holmes Group, Inc. v. Vornado Air Circulation Systems, Inc. - 535 U.S. 826 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus HOLMES GROUP, INC. v. VORNADO AIR CIRCULATION SYSTEMS, INC. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT No. 01-408. Argued March 19, 2002-Decided June 3, 2002 Petitioner filed a federal-court action, seeking, inter alia, a declaratory judgment that its products did not infringe respondent's trade dress and an injunction restraining respondent from accusing it of such infringement. Respondent's answer asserted a compulsory patentinfringement counterclaim. The District Court ruled in petitioner's favor. Respondent appealed to the Federal Circuit, which, notwithstanding petitioner's challenge to its jurisdiction, vacated the District Court's judgment and remanded the case. Held: The Federal Circuit cannot assert jurisdiction over a case in which the complaint does not allege a patent-law claim, but the answer contains a patent-law counterc...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Oct-09-2002
Eldred v. Ashcroft - 537 U.S. 186 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2002 Syllabus ELDRED ET AL. v. ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT No. 01-618. Argued October 9, 2002-Decided January 15,2003 The Copyright and Patent Clause, U. S. Const., Art. I, 8, cl. 8, provides as to copyrights: "Congress shall have Power ... [t]o promote the Progress of Science ... by securing [to Authors] for limited Times ... the exclusive Right to their ... Writings." In the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), Congress enlarged the duration of copyrights by 20 years: Under the 1976 Copyright Act (1976 Act), copyright protection generally lasted from a work's creation until 50 years after the author's death; under the CTEA, most copyrights now run from creation until 70 years after the author's death, 17 U. S. C. 302(a). As in the case of prior copyright extensions, principally in 1831, 1909, and 1976, Congress provided for applic...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-29-2002
Thompson v. Western States Medical Center - 535 U.S. 357 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, ET AL. v. WESTERN STATES MEDICAL CENTER ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 01-344. Argued February 26, 2002-Decided April 29, 2002 Drug compounding is a process by which a pharmacist or doctor combines, mixes, or alters ingredients to create a medication tailored to an individual patient's needs. The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA) exempts "compounded drugs" from the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) standard drug approval requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), so long as the providers of the compounded drugs abide by several restrictions, including that the prescription be "unsolicited," 21 U. S. C. 353a(a), and that the providers "not advertise or promote the compounding of any particular drug, class of drug, or type of drug,"...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-28-2002
Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. - 535 U.S. 722 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus FESTO CORP. v. SHOKETSU KINZOKU KOGYO KABUSHIKI CO., LTD., ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT No. 00-1543. Argued January 8, 2002-Decided May 28, 2002 Petitioner Festo Corporation owns two patents for an industrial device. When the patent examiner rejected the initial application for the first patent because of defects in description, 35 U. S. C. 112, the application was amended to add the new limitations that the device would contain a pair of one-way sealing rings and that its outer sleeve would be made of a magnetizable material. The second patent was also amended during a reexamination proceeding to add the sealing rings limitation. Mter Festo began selling its device, respondents (hereinafter SMC) entered the market with a similar device that uses one two-way sealing ring and a nonmagnetizable sleeve. Festo filed suit, clai...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jun-27-2002
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris - 536 U.S. 639 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus ZELMAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF OHIO, ET AL. v. SIMMONS-HARRIS ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT No.00-1751. Argued February 20, 2002-Decided June 27, 2002* Ohio's Pilot Project Scholarship Program gives educational choices to families in any Ohio school district that is under state control pursuant to a federal-court order. The program provides tuition aid for certain students in the Cleveland City School District, the only covered district, to attend participating public or private schools of their parent's choosing and tutorial aid for students who choose to remain enrolled in public school. Both religious and nonreligious schools in the district may participate, as may public schools in adjacent school districts. Tuition aid is distributed to parents according to financial need, and where the aid is spent depends solely upon where parents c...
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