JURIST - US Legal News

[JURIST] Finnish telecommunications company Nokia filed suit against Taiwanese company HTC [corporate websites] Thursday for selling products in the US that infringe Nokia's patents on mobile technology. Three patents in question involve program products typically used in hand sets for a mobile phone. Thursday's suit brings the total number [Inquirer report] of Nokia patents being asserted against HTC in courts around the world to 50. Nokia has a long history [JURIST news archive] of holding other companies accountable in the...... [full story]

[JURIST] Hobby Lobby, Inc. [corporate website] requested an exemption from the mandate to provide employees with coverage for contraceptives under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) [text; JURIST backgrounder] in an en banc hearing before the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] on Thursday. The Green family, founders of Hobby Lobby and its sister company Mardel, contend [AP report] that businesses, not just the currently exempted religious groups, should be excepted from that part...... [full story]

[JURIST] US District Judge Denise Cote expressed a tentative view on Thursday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] would be able to show at trial that Apple [corporate website] knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise the prices of e-books with five publishers. She said her view was based largely [Reuters report] on material submitted as evidence. The trial, set for June 3, will proceed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New...... [full story]

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama [official website] delivered a speech [text] Thursday on US counterterrorism policy and efforts, outlining plans to restrict the use of unmanned drone strikes and to renew efforts to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder]. In Obama's first major speech on counterterrorism since his re-election, he addressed the war on terror: "Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue, but this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's...... [full story]

[JURIST] Lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] prisoners filed a complaint [text; case materials] Thursday alleging search policies restrict the detainees' access to counsel. According to a new policy [Al Jazeera report], detainees are subject to a genital pat-down whenever they wish to leave the detention camp, which they must do to meet with their lawyers. This caused representatives for more than a dozen detainees to file the complaint, saying:The new policies have no legitimate purpose, but are pretextual, imposed...... [full story]

[JURIST] A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the US House of Representative advocated Wednesday for a law that would shield the press from giving information to a federal entity unless certain conditions are met. The push for legislation [Politico report] comes in response to an incident in which the US Department of Justice (DOJ) obtained journalists' records. In a press conference, Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) called the DOJ's search [The Hill report] for the source of leaked information in April...... [full story]

[JURIST] Several groups filed a lawsuit [complaint] Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of a new Connecticut gun control law [GA Bill 1160, PDF]. The new law expanded the firearms banned as "assault weapons" under existing state law. It also limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds. The complaint alleges these new requirement are overly vague which makes them too difficult to follow. The lawsuit is seeking an immediate injunction of enforcement of the law. The plaintiffs allege that the new restrictions unconstitutionally...... [full story]

[JURIST] The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that the Arizona law banning abortions at 20 weeks violates women's rights, making it "per se unconstitutional." The opinion, authored by Judge Marsha Berzon, focused on balancing fetal viability and a woman's right to medical autonomy. The state defended the statute [text, PDF] by arguing that it was not an outright ban because it permitted procedures in the event of a medical emergency. The court...... [full story]

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official site] ruled Tuesday that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official site] has no legal obligation to release photos [opinion, PDF] of Osama bin Laden [CFR profile; JURIST news archive] after his death. The decision was in response to a Freedom of Information Act [official website] request seeking to have more than 50 photographs released which show bin Laden's body after he was killed by US special forces...... [full story]

For more US and world legal news from today, yesterday, and back to January 2003, check JURIST's Paper Chase Archive.