Practitioners and litigants alike largely understand that they must preserve evidence related to anticipated litigation. One potential pitfall, however, lies in the continuing nature of that obligation. Generally, a litigant’s duty to preserve evidence continues despite, for example, the collection of relevant documents or the imaging of devices containing relevant information. These principles were illustrated…

In 2109971 Ontario Inc. d/b/a Xcella Furniture v. Best Deals Discount Furniture LLC, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recently granted plaintiff 2109971 Ontario Inc.’s (“Xcella Furniture”) motion to dismiss defendant Best Deals Discount Furniture’s (“Best Deals”) counterclaim for inequitable conduct as well as strike 29 of Best Deals’s…

In Corcept Therapeutics, Inc. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recently ordered that two separate, but related, Hatch-Waxman cases must be tried together. The cases involve patents covering plaintiff Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.’s (“Corcept”) KORLYM® product for the treatment of Cushing’s syndrome. Each case involves…

In Taction Technology, Inc. v. Apple Inc., the United States District Court for the Southern District of California recently granted plaintiff Taction Technology, Inc.’s (“Taction”) motion to strike portions of defendant Apple Inc.’s (“Apple”) amended invalidity contentions. The case is a patent infringement action that addresses the distinctions between discovery under the Federal Rules…

In a recent unpublished opinion, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that an agreement to arbitrate set forth in the binding dispute resolution provision in a standard form American Institute of Architects (AIA) construction contract between a condominium association and contractor was enforceable. The binding dispute resolution provision appears in the AIA standard form as a…

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is designed to protect and regulate the use of both “biometric identifiers” and “biometric information” of Illinois residents. “Biometric identifiers,” for instance, include “a retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, or scan of hand or face geometry.” In contrast, “biometric information” means “any information … based on an individual’s…

In a highly anticipated opinion addressing allegations that Google failed to preserve relevant internal chat messages – despite assuring the court in a case management conference that it had – United States District Court Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California ordered Google to cover the plaintiffs’ legal costs in pursuing a Rule…