Players On the Move
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
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Debts, Divorce, and Student Loans
March 04, 2004
Increasingly, family lawyers are encountering property division cases involving the equitable distribution of student loans or claims seeking equitable reimbursement for funds spent on higher education during the marriage. The statistics regarding tuition increases are staggering. According to the College Board's most recent annual survey on trends in college pricing (www.collegeboard.com), for private colleges, the average cost of a 4-year program, including room and board, is $78, 840. The average figure for in-state public universities is $18,776.
A Call for Continued State Law Tort Reform
March 03, 2004
The recent federal trial court decision in <i>Dusek v. Pfizer Inc.</i>, Civil Action No. H-02-3559 (S.D. Tex. 2/20/04) dismissing plaintiffs' products liability claims against Pfizer in connection with the prescription drug Zoloft' on the ground of conflict preemption has given the pharmaceutical industry some hope that compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations will afford protection from common law failure-to-warn claims. The court granted summary judgment on the ground that a cause of action based on the plaintiff's proposed additional warning to the product label that Zoloft can cause suicidal ideation would conflict with the FDA's decision not to add such a warning because no causal link had in fact been established and it would in effect be false and misleading in violation of federal law. This should not deter continued efforts to obtain tort reform at the state level, however, where the continued influx of pharmaceutical product liability claims continues to burden courts and the pharmaceutical industry.
When One Patent Application Begets Ten
March 03, 2004
Restriction practice (ie, the restriction of a patent application to prosecution of a single claimed invention per filing fee) has been around since the mid-1800s. In recent years, hyperproliferation of restriction requirements, especially in the biotechnology, chemical and software arts, has occurred. It has not been uncommon for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to assert that a patent application contains 10, 20, even 100 distinct inventions.
Designing a Medical Device Surveillance Network
March 03, 2004
In last month's newsletter, we looked at some helpful Web sites for those who need to track the efficacy and safety of medical devices. Following are more useful Web sites for these purposes.
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