The Year of the Patent

Possibly due to its eight Justice configuration, the Supreme Court heard a unique slate of cases this term with no noted landmark cases or decisions.  Then again perhaps landmark is in the eye of the beholder.  This term the Supreme Court heard six patent cases which conceivably is the most such cases the Supreme Court has heard…

The Most Important Cases Already Argued This Term in SCOTUS

Over the last few years the Supreme Court has heard multiple landmark cases.    The issues in these cases ranged from abortion to marriage equality and from affirmative action in schools to national healthcare.  So far this Term the Court has not heard cases of the same magnitude.  While cases like Beckles v. United States may…

Early Term Decisions

The Supreme Court released two more decisions today in Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple Inc. and Salman v. United States. Both were unanimous – the Samsung decision written by Justice Sotomayor and Salman by Justice Alito.  This brings the total number of authored decisions so far this Term to four. All were unanimous and the only separate opinion was a concurrence by…

Breaking Down Arguments in Samsung v. Apple

On Tuesday the Justices heard oral arguments in the highly anticipated patent case, Samsung v. Apple.  With this case, the Justices wrestled with the question of whether Samsung infringed on Apple’s front screen and interface on the IPhone. The stakes are quite high as the appellate court upheld a $400-million verdict against Samsung. While patent…

Taking Stock: New Cases and an Emerging Picture of the Term

With the “long conference” before the beginning of the 2016 Supreme Court Term complete the Court has granted what could be the last set of cases before the Justices start hearing oral arguments next Tuesday (Oct. 4). The Court has two months of hearings scheduled with other cases still lacking oral argument dates. The Court’s…