Publications

The political world is taking aim at entities whose business model is to generate licensing and settlement revenue by threatening companies with frivolous patent infringement lawsuits. Such entities are formally referred to as “patent assertion entities” (PAEs) but more commonly known as “patent trolls.”   PAEs tend to assert claims […]

In a landmark ruling earlier this year, the Supreme Court held that the first sale doctrine, which allows for legally acquired copyrighted works to be resold by their owners, applies to all works, regardless of whether they are manufactured domestically or abroad. The ruling comes from the case of Kirtsaeng […]

Despite lack of media attention, a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court poses historic impact on land use permitting across the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court recently handed property owners and developers a significant win, ruling that a Florida government agency violated a landowner’s constitutional rights by […]

A recent alert from the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced a national enforcement initiative targeting animal waste pollution from livestock and poultry operations for criminal prosecution.  Traditionally, the EPA and state agencies have been hesitant to initiate criminal actions in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (“CAFO”) cases absent strong evidence […]

The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the credit provision of the Nameplate Capacity Tax applicable to wind energy generation facilities against challenges that it is unconstitutional. Banks v. Heineman, 286 Neb. 390 (2013). This ruling means that all privately-developed, utility-scale wind energy generation facilities in the state will be treated […]