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California Employment News: How to Comply With and Use Employee Record Requests to Your Advantage

Published: May 10, 2022

by Lukas Clary, Meagan D. Bainbridge
The Labor & Employment Law Blog

In this episode of California Employment News, Lukas Clary and Meagan Bainbridge discuss steps that employers can take to comply with employee records requests, while also mitigating the risk of potential workplace violation claims.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel, here.

Listen to this podcast episode here.

Can Copyright Law Prevent Cheating on Exams?

Published: May 5, 2022

by Jo Dale Carothers, Ph.D.
The IP Law Blog

The recent opportunities for remote work and learning have provided improvements in lifestyle for a number of employees and students. Many of those able to work or study from home have benefited from more flexible schedules, reduction in time and money spent on commuting, reduction in work- and school-related stress, and more family time. But those benefits have come with some new challenges. For example, professors and teachers have confronted the challenge of how to prevent students from cheating on exams. When standard approaches failed, a business professor recently turned to copyright law, hoping for a solution.

The Continuing Battle Over LinkedIn Profiles and the Applicability of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Published: April 28, 2022

by James Kachmar
The IP Law Blog

Over two and a half years ago, this column analyzed a Ninth Circuit case titled HiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corporation, in which the Court agreed with a lower court that had issued a preliminary injunction against LinkedIn from taking certain technical measures to prevent HiQ, a data analytics company, from “scraping” information from publicly available profiles on LinkedIn’s site. The Ninth Circuit concluded then that HiQ was not violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) because its activities were directed at publicly available information and therefore, it was not accessing LinkedIn’s computer systems either without authorization or in excess of such authorization as required to establish liability under the CFAA.

Alice is Alive and Well!

Published: April 21, 2022

by Audrey A. Millemann
The IP Law Blog

Not everything is patentable. First, only inventions are patentable. Second, only certain inventions are patentable. Four types of inventions are patentable: articles of manufacture, machines, processes, and compositions of matter. 35 U.S.C. §101. These four types of inventions are referred to as patent-eligible subject matter. Some things, referred to as patent-ineligible subject matter, are not patentable: laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas.

Real Estate Contracts: The Complex and Often Overlooked Indemnity Clause

Published: April 21, 2022

by Mark E. Ellinghouse
Real Estate Legal Updates

“Let’s leave that to the lawyers.”  It’s a familiar refrain that I hear often as contract negotiations drag on between parties.  After the primary deal points in a contract have been agreed upon, many clients believe that the remaining terms can be easily resolved without their involvement.  Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, as what some clients perceive to be boilerplate or “standard” could become critically important if a dispute arises relating to the transaction.

Use of Non-Physician Healthcare Practitioners Expanding in California

Published: April 20, 2022

by Jeanne L. Vance
Healthcare Legal Updates

I have been in healthcare legal practice since the mid-1990s.  During a summer in law school, I worked for the California Legislative Counsel Bureau, which is the agency that serves as legal counsel to the California legislature.  During my stint there, I recall various healthcare licentiates arguing about whether to expand the practice of non-physicians, with physicians generally asserting that such changes would be detrimental to healthcare quality and the other healthcare licentiates arguing that they provide a quality service at a more reasonable price-point.  This same tension has woven its way through legislative and payment policy during the intervening decades with the same arguments being advanced.  However, during that time we have seen the gradual increase in scope of practice of non-physician advanced practice professionals such as nurse practitioners (“NPs”), physician assistants (“PA”) and certified nurse midwives.  These trends are evidenced by several recent legal developments both in Medicare payment policy and California state law.

District Court Dismiss Inequitable Conduct Claim Alleging Inferred Knowledge of Prior Art Based on Wide Spread Availability

Published: April 14, 2022

by Eric Caligiuri
The IP Law Blog

In California Costume Collections, Inc v. Pandaloon, LLC, 2-21-cv-01323 (CDCA Apr. 7, 2022) (John W. Holcomb), the Central District of California recently considered whether a plaintiff plead an inequitable conduct claim with the required particularity concerning knowledge of materiality. In the case, Plaintiff California Costume Collections (“CCC”) filed its Complaint against Defendant Pandaloon, LLC (“Pandaloon”) for declaratory judgment of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability of U.S. Design Patent No. D806,325 (the “D325 Patent”) for a “Pet Costume.” In response, Pandaloon filed a Motion to dismiss Count Three of the Complaint—in which CCC alleges that the D325 Patent is unenforceable due to inequitable conduct—on the ground that it fails to state a claim for relief under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.