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Greenberg Traurig news
Law Firm News |
2007/07/23 17:01
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The international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP is pleased to announce that its Trademarks and Global Brand Strategies Group has been recognized as the top ranking practice among law firms in three publications:
IP Law360 gave the firm top rankings in its survey of the 250+ largest law firms most frequently hired for trademark litigation in 2006.
Intellectual Property Today ranked the firm first in its annual listing of Top Trademark Firms. The ranking is a result of having the highest number of trademark applications issued in 2006.
NameProtect Trademark Insider ranked the firm first for three consecutive years for the number of USPTO trademark applications submitted. The ranking is a result of NameProtect’s annual reports from 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006 Greenberg Traurig’s Trademark and Global Brand Strategies Group handled 148 federal trademark lawsuits; more than triple that of the firm’s closest competitor and an 18 percent increase from the previous year.
“Every member of our team is diligent at keeping current with the issues that regularly face our clients,” said Rick Harris, Shareholder and National Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. “It’s great to receive this kind of positive feedback and reinforcement for our work.”
In addition to these prestigious rankings, Greenberg Traurig’s trademark and global brand strategy attorneys have a significant international presence as they seek to position and protect clients’ valuable brands throughout the world.
Greenberg Traurig brings together a vast network of resources to obtain, monitor, enforce and leverage trademarks and trade dress worldwide. The firm offers a wide range of services in this area of intellectual property, including trademark clearance, licensing or acquisition, registration worldwide, and licensing of rights of publicity (using a name or persona for commercial purposes). Trademark attorneys also work with clients to develop trademark watch services and monitoring programs for their valuable brands, and counsel the clients on global anti-counterfeiting/anti-infringement, anti-parallel trade and other brand enforcement strategies.
Olswang, a London-based law firm with whom Greenberg Traurig has a strategic alliance, has also received similar praise for its trademark team, which is part of its leading Intellectual Property practice. Olswang was recently recognized as "the UK's most active law firm for UK trademark registry filings" by the Institute of Trademark Attorneys. In 2006 the firm increased its filings by 40 percent from the previous year.
Joel Barry, head of the trademark team and partner at Olswang, said, "Our team is going from strength to strength and making a serious impression on the UK legal market. In the last three years the team's size and turnover has more than quadrupled, and in 2006 we filed more UK registry trade mark filings than any other UK firm. Our achievements mirror the success of Greenberg Traurig. Working closely together we offer a truly unique integrated IP offering which appeals to clients and keeps us both ahead of the market."
“While it’s been exciting for us to receive this praise, the feeling has been magnified by the success of our business partners in London,” said Roxanne Elings, a New York Shareholder and Chair of the Trademark Practice in New York. “Our alliance with Olswang has further strengthened our abilities to provide our clients with the resources and counsel they need.”
“We’re delighted that both our trademark group and Olswang’s have received these well-deserved accolades,” said Richard Rosenbaum, National Operating Shareholder. “Their extensive knowledge of trademark matters is unparalleled and we wish the groups continued success.”
About Greenberg Traurig
Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, full-service law firm with more than 1700 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The firm is ranked seventh on The American Lawyer's Am Law 100 listing of the largest law firms in the U.S., based on number of lawyers.
Greenberg Traurig serves clients from offices in: Albany, NY; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Atlanta, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Morristown, NJ; New York, NY; Orange County, CA; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Sacramento, CA; Silicon Valley, CA; Tallahassee, FL; Tampa Bay, FL; Tokyo, Japan; Tysons Corner, VA; Washington, D.C.; West Palm Beach, FL; Wilmington, DE; and Zurich, Switzerland. Additionally, the firm has strategic alliances with the following independent law firms: Olswang, London, Berlin and Brussels; Studio Santa Maria, Milan and Rome; and Hayabusa Asuka Law Offices in Tokyo.
www.gtlaw.com |
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Cold-fX maker sued for $110-million lawsuit
Legal World News |
2007/07/23 14:58
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CV Technologies, the Edmonton-based makers of flu and cold remedy Cold-fX, has been hit with a $110-million consumer class-action lawsuit. Marking the latest setback for the besieged biotech company, the lawsuit was filed in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto by two law firms, Siskinds LLP of London, Ont. and Sutt Strosberg LLP of Windsor. The action, based on Ontario's new investor legislation, arose from CV Tech's June restatement of finances, after it was discovered earlier this year that U.S. sales of lead product Cold-fX were vastly inflated. The suit was filed by two investors on behalf of any Canadians who acquired CV Technologies (TSX:CVT) shares between Dec. 11, 2006 and June 2007. Also named in the action are CV Tech president Jacqueline Shan, directors Gordon Tallman and Harry Buddle, who signed the company's financial statements, and the corporation's auditors, Grant Thornton LLP of Edmonton. Lawyer Jay Strosberg said it is alleged that CV Tech's financial statements were misleading. Strosberg, who specializes in class-action litigation, said his firm received a number of calls from shareholders. "They were concerned at the decrease in share price. We decided to investigate." The two legal firms have set up a website with information for shareholders who may want to join the action, www.coldfxclassaction.com. "Investors and members of the public expect that a company's financial statements can be relied upon at all times. Our goal is to prosecute this class action and seek meaningful compensation for the class members." CV Technologies and the other named defendants have not yet been served with copies of the action and no court date has been set. "It's going to be an interesting road," Strosberg said. Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer with Siskinds', said investors deserve relief when they suffer losses due to inaccurate information. "Our securities laws must have teeth if the investments of Canada's working families are to be protected." Officials with CV Technologies did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment today. Typically, such actions can take years to wind their way through the legal system or reach settlement. This is the second time that Ontario's investor protection legislation has been used in a court case. The first proposed class action, currently before the courts, was brought against Imax Corp., also filed jointly by Siskinds LLP and Sutts Strosberg LLP. CV Technologies has had a rough ride in recent months. On June 12, the company resumed trading on the TSX for the first time since April, when regulators in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario slapped cease-trade orders against the company. On June 14, the company filed restatements of previously reported financial statements for the year ended Sept. 30, 2006, and the quarters ended Dec. 31, 2006, and March 31, 2007. The company restated 2006 sales at $41.4 million, compared to the originally reported revenue of $47 million. The company is restructuring and has hired a new COO. Following the disappointing launch of Cold-fX in the U.S. market, the company's vice president of sales resigned. CV Technologies shares closed Friday's session up a penny to $1.02. Its 52-week trading range has been between 60 cents and $1.15. |
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U.S. District Court Final Approval of Settlement of Class Action
Class Action News |
2007/07/23 14:00
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Copernic Inc., (the "Company"), (NASDAQ: CNIC), formerly Mamma.com Inc., previously announced on March 8, 2007, that an order by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in the consolidated securities class action was filed preliminarily approving the proposed settlement of the class action. The court has approved the settlement following a hearing on July 9, 2007, at which time the Court heard from all parties before concluding that the settlement is fair and all procedural requisites were met. As a result, all claims asserted in the class actions against the Company and the individual officer defendants have been resolved, with the exception of three shareholders who have indicated they will exclude themselves from the settlement so as to preserve rights to maintain separate actions should they elect to do so. The amount paid into escrow, along with any interest earned, will be distributed as provided under the settlement to pay class members, plaintiffs' attorney fee, and the costs of claims administration. |
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Democrats Continue Push for Iraq Troop Withdrawal
Law & Politics |
2007/07/21 22:53
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Sen. Harry Reid offered his cooperation in December when the Iraq Study Group unveiled its recommendations with a plaintive call for a bipartisan effort to change the course of the war. "Democrats will work with our Republican colleagues," promised the Nevada Democrat and soon-to-be majority leader, just weeks after an election that swept Democrats into the congressional majority on a wave of public frustration over Iraq. Eight bitter months and nine major Iraq-related votes later, the meaning of Reid's pledge has come into sharp focus: Democrats will work with any GOP lawmaker willing to vote for a mandatory troop withdrawal; other Republicans need not apply.
This bellicose, uncompromising legislative strategy — on display again this week as Reid refused to allow votes on nonbinding GOP-backed Iraq proposals — has been an obstacle to any real bipartisan compromise on the war all year. And it effectively ended any chance that a significant number of Republican lawmakers critical of the war would join with Democrats this summer on any Iraq-related legislation.
The Democratic strategy has yet to yield many tangible results. Just eight of the 250 Republicans in the House and Senate have joined with Democrats calling for a withdrawal.
And President Bush has shown no sign of retreating from his troop buildup, which has boosted the U.S. force in Iraq to 158,000.
But Reid's approach reflects a simple calculation by senior Democrats about how to force a president they see as stubborn to begin winding down U.S. military involvement in Iraq.
Reid and his allies, enraged by years of being brushed off and belittled by the White House, do not believe the president will respond to legislation that merely urges, rather than orders, a new course, even if it is backed by substantial numbers of congressional Republicans.
"The president doesn't take advice," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and an architect of the current strategy.
Instead, in the face of continued defiance from the White House, Democrats in the House and Senate are focusing their efforts on making their Republican colleagues as uncomfortable as possible in the belief that that is the only way to get through to the president.
All year, Democrats have forced GOP lawmakers to vote on withdrawal proposals, betting that with each vote Republicans who back the president will feel the renewed rage of voters at home.
Democrats hope that, in turn, will drive Republicans to pressure the president to abandon his Iraq strategy or risk ruining the party's election prospects in 2008.
Since January, Senate Democrats have orchestrated nine major votes on measures designed to change course in Iraq; House Democrats have arranged for four.
Every proposal but one has died in the Senate, where Republicans have used that chamber's rules to block the measures.
(An emergency war spending bill with a withdrawal timeline passed but was vetoed by the president in May.)
This week, the latest proposal, which would have required that most troops be out of Iraq by April 30, died as Democrats failed to reach the 60-vote supermajority needed to cut off debate.
At the same time, Reid stunned Republicans when he shut down votes on alternatives that would have given them opportunities to back less forceful measures. The move locked a political escape hatch for GOP lawmakers, denying them opportunities to tell their constituents that they voted for legislation calling on the president to change course.
One measure — backed by Republican Sens. John W. Warner of Virginia and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, both widely respected experts on national security — would have required the president to plan for a withdrawal, but would not have required the Bush administration to implement the plan.
A second proposal, which had collected six Republican and eight Democratic co-sponsors, would have called on the president to implement the 79 recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, including a new diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. However, it too would not have required a change in course. |
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Court grants evidence to Guantanamo lawyers
Lawyer Blog News |
2007/07/21 18:53
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A federal appeals court on Friday ruled lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners should have access to nearly all government evidence so they can challenge detainees' designation as "unlawful enemy combatants." The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington was a blow to the Bush administration's attempt to limit the lawyers' access to only the evidence presented to a U.S. military tribunal that made the determinations. The ruling came on the same day President George W. Bush ordered the CIA to comply with Geneva Conventions against torture in dealing with detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and secret CIA prisons elsewhere. "Contrary to the position of the government, the record on review consists of all the information a tribunal is authorized to obtain and consider," the court ruling stated. The court also ruled that detainees' lawyers should have access to classified information relating to clients' cases. "Certain highly sensitive information" may be withheld from the lawyers, but not from the court, the judges ruled. Lawyers for the detainees argued in mid-May that being able to review all documents compiled by the U.S. government, not just those presented to the military tribunal, could help them clear the detainees, some of whom have been jailed for more than five years. There are about 385 detainees at Guantanamo, which was set up to handle prisoners captured by the United States following the September 11 attacks. U.S. government attorneys have argued that any evidence that could help clear prisoners would have been turned over to the military tribunal that made the "unlawful enemy combatant" determination. In rejecting that argument, the court ruled that an adequate review of the tribunal's determination cannot be made "without seeing all the evidence, any more than one can tell whether a fraction is more or less than one-half by looking only at the numerator and not at the denominator." The court also rejected the government's position that lawyers should only have one eight-hour visit to Guantanamo to obtain approval from a prisoner to represent him.
The judges said a second visit would allow the lawyer "time to earn the detainee's trust." Democrats in Congress are considering legislation calling for closing the Guantanamo prison, arguing indefinite detentions and allegations of prisoner mistreatment, which the military denies, is hurting the United States' reputation abroad and stoking potential acts of terrorism. |
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Ga. top court finishes hearing Wilson's appeal
Lawyer Blog News |
2007/07/21 17:55
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The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments Friday morning on a pair of appeals in the closely watched Genarlow Wilson case, though no ruling was expected immediately. The courtroom was packed for the hearing, and arguments were broadcast live over the Internet. The hearing came after justices decided earlier this month to speed up the process in the case of Wilson, the Douglas County man imprisoned for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. Wilson's attorneys argue his 10-year prison sentence is cruel and unusual punishment. The justices are considering two appeals in the case. Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker is appealing a Monroe County Superior Court judge's decision to reduce Wilson's felony conviction to a misdemeanor and free him from prison. Baker said the judge overstepped his authority when he granted Wilson's motion last month. Following the Monroe County judge's decision, Wilson's attorneys requested he be released on bond pending Baker's appeal, but on June 27, the trial court in Douglas County denied the request. Wilson's attorneys have appealed that decision. B.J. Bernstein, Wilson's attorney, addressed the bond issue first at Friday's hearing, arguing for 10 minutes that her client should be granted bond while his case is under appeal. "Every day that a defendant spends in jail is a precious day in their life," Bernstein told the justices. Bernstein said that in the past 10 days, "two clients of mine died in prison." Bernstein argued that the trial court, in refusing bond, improperly applied the criminal appeal bond statute when it should have applied the habeas bond statute, since the Monroe County judge had ruled on a writ of habeas corpus, determining that Wilson had the right to make a claim of cruel and unusual punishment. However, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, the original prosecutor on Wilson's case, countered in his time before the justices that state law is clear that "no appeal bond shall be granted to any person who is convicted of a list of crimes, and aggravated child molestation is included in that list." "It's not vague. It's not gray. It's not subject to interpretation," McDade said. "It is the plain letter of the law that applies in this case." In its appeal of the reduction of the felony conviction to a misdemeanor, the state has argued that the ruling could open the door for many other sexual criminals to have their sentences reduced. Wilson's attorneys argued that such fears are invalid and do not justify maintaining such a harsh sentence for consensual teen sex. Video cameras and still photographers lined the walls well before the arguments began. Outside, satellite trucks and Georgia State Patrol cars were parked all along the street, and security was high. Officers were posted all around the building and on the floor where the Supreme Court meets. Former state Rep. Matthew Towery, the author of the 1995 law Wilson was charged with violating, submitted a friend of the court brief supporting his release. "The General Assembly never intended for the Child Protection Act's harsh felony sentences designed to punish adults who prey on children to be used to punish consensual sexual acts between teenagers close in age," Towery's brief said. The state Legislature in 2006 changed the law, making oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor. The state Court of Appeals ruled that the new lasaveClicked(kSaveBtn,null,true)w could not be applied retroactively and the state Supreme Court upheld that ruling. Bernstein argued in her legal brief that the move by state lawmakers to change the law marked a "tectonic shift in how Georgia views voluntary consensual teen sex and its punishment." "The new reality is that teen sexual experimentation is commonplace in an era where the media bombards teens with sexual imagery," she wrote. Bernstein said it is extremely rare in Georgia for lawmakers to pass legislation softening punishment, especially for an emotionally charged crime like child molestation. But the state countered that it is well established that criminals are subject to the penalty that is in place when they violate the law. To begin to apply legislative changes retroactively would invite chaos and have a far-reaching effect throughout the criminal justice system, Baker argued. "The decision in this case not only affects Petitioner, but it potentially affects countless others who may be in the prison system or on probation or who have completed their sentences," he wrote. |
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