Fanali 991

“Let judges also remember that Solomon’s throne was supported by lions on both sides: Let them be lions, but yet lions under the throne; being circumspect that they do not check or oppose any points of sovereignty”Francis Bacon, ‘Of Judicature’ Background In a path breaking judgment stretching to over 1000 pages, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court comprising of 5 judges (all of whom have penned words in sequence of seniority) in SCAORA v UOI (4th Judges Case) with a majority of 4:1 declared National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 and the 99th Constitution Amendment Act, 2014 unconstitutional. The 1+2 and 1+4 Collegiums also stand operative with this judgment for appointments of judges to High Courts and the Supreme Court. Senior most Kehar J has written 452 pages followed by the order of the Court signed by 5 judges. The judgment deals with 4 major aspects – Recusal, Reference, Review of 2nd and 3rd Judges and … [Read more...] about Collegium Wapsi & the journey from Assembly debates to 4th Judges Case – A Sketch

Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a Non-Governmental Organisation which is known of filing Public Interest Litigations in Apex Court and other High Courts highlighting issues involving national interest and those affecting common man, is in news, this time, for a different reason. Last week, the CJI, while hearing a fresh PIL filed by CPIL challenging the grant of 4G spectrum licenses to Reliance Jio Info comm Ltd, is reported to have told Prashant Bhushan that 50 PILs have been filed by the CPIL over the years, but it was of the impression that the NGO “did not have any credible mechanism to verify the information which formed the basis for filing the PILs”.  In reply the CPIL filed detailed written submission explaining the working of CPIL. In the landmark 2G Judgment the role of CPIL was acknowledged and appreciated  by the Supreme Court .Here is a list of 20 Significant PILs filed by CPIL 1. 1995: Discretionary allotment of petroleum products/LPG/SKO … [Read more...] about ‘Pro bono publico’; 20 Significant PILs filed by Centre for Public Interest Litigation [CPIL]

  The issues on appeal were whether Travel Caddy, Inc. had committed inequitable conduct for: (i) not disclosing the existence of the litigation on U.S. Patent No. 6,823,992 (“the ‘992 patent”) during the prosecution of the application that matured into U.S. Patent No. 6,991,104 (“the ‘104 patent”; the ‘104 patent is a CON of the ‘992 patent; the ‘104 patent was filed shortly before the ‘992 patent issued); and paying small entity fees, even though Travel Caddy was not entitled to claim small entity status. (PDFs of both patents are available at the end of this post.)Non-disclosure of the ‘992 patent litigationTo establish unenforceability based on inequitable conduct in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), it must be shown that (i) information material to patentability was withheld from the PTO, or material misinformation was provided to the PTO, with (ii) the intent to deceive or mislead the patent examiner … [Read more...] about Federal Circuit Knocks Outside the Box’s Inequitable Conduct Charges Out of the Box

As we emerge from the 2009 holiday shopping season, the popularity of gift card programs for retailers, restaurants and other hospitality businesses and their customers has become even more apparent. "Breakage," that portion of gift card balances that is not redeemed for food, beverage or merchandise, also can be an important short-term cash flow benefit for the card issuer. Yet, a number of states will treat unredeemed gift card balances as unclaimed property. As a result, some issuers of gift cards have used separate entities to manage their gift card programs to achieve intended unclaimed property compliance benefits. In turn, how these gift card management entities recognize income from gift card sales has caught the attention of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). IRS's LMSB Audit InitiativeIn 2007, the IRS's Large and Mid-Size Business Division (LMSB) issued a directive to its revenue agents in the field announcing an audit initiative targeting what the IRS viewed as improper … [Read more...] about Gift Card Management — When Income Tax and State Unclaimed Property Laws Converge

The Supreme Court made two historic rulings today in their decisions to overturn both the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8. Proposition 8 was a ballot initiative passed in 2008 that amended the California constitution to include the provision that "[o]nly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Following this morning's ruling, California Governor Jerry Brown has told county officials to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses as soon as a lower court stay is lifted.When it was on the ballot, the proposition attracted tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions on both sides, both from in-state and out-of-state groups who saw the measure as having the potential to set an important precedent for the nation. It also generated unprecedented quantities of fines for groups on either side in violation of campaign disclosure laws.  Data: MapLight analysis of Top-10 contibutors … [Read more...] about CA Prop. 8’s Top 10 Supporting and Opposing Contributors