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Business

[11/25] Analysis: Geithner is already shaping the economy

Intellectual Property

[11/25] Finally, urine recycler passes astronauts' test

Insurance

[12/02] Business Insurance Names 25 as Women to Watch

Environment

[11/26] Why won't polar bears mate? They're both female

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Case Summaries

Intellectual Property

[11/25] Bd. of Supervisors for La. State Univ. Agric. & Mech. Coll. v. Smack Apparel Co.
In a trademark dispute alleging that defendant infringed trademarks by selling t-shirts with several universities' color schemes and other identifying indicia referencing the games of the schools' football teams, summary judgment for plaintiffs is affirmed where: 1) the color schemes had secondary meaning and, although unregistered, were protectible marks; 2) there was a likelihood of confusion connecting the marks and the universities themselves; 3) the marks at issue were nonfunctional and thus subject to Lanham Act protection; 4) defendants' use of the marks was not a nominative fair use; 5) the defense of laches did not apply; 6) actual confusion was not a prerequisite to an award of money damages; and 7) plaintiffs were not entitled to attorneys' fees.

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Insurance Law

[12/02] Love v. Dell Inc.
In a suit arising from the denial of health benefits under a plan subject to ERISA, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where two separate decisions by defendant-plan administrator to deny coverage as not medically necessary were supported by substantial evidence in the record, and were therefore not abuses of discretion.

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Environmental Law

[11/28] Albany Eng'g Corp. v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n
In a case involving the reimbursement by downstream licensees of upstream dam operators for "headwater benefits" conferred by those dams, petition for review of a FERC order allowing state regulation of the reimbursements is granted, and order reversed in part, where section 10(f) of the Federal Power Act preempts state law over compensation for headwater benefits, and FERC's interpretation to the contrary was unreasonable.

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Commercial Law

[12/03] Andrzejewski v. Fed. Aviation Admin.
In proceedings arising after the FAA revoked petitioner's commercial pilot's license via emergency order, pilot's petition for review of an NTSB order reversing an ALJ's decision in pilot's favor is granted and the matter remanded where the NTSB's failure to give the ALJ's implicit credibility determination the requisite level of deference was contrary to NTSB precedent and, therefore, arbitrary and capricious.

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