(WV Supreme Court of Appeals) - No. 18-0653

FOUR years ago, Olivia Mitchell joined her first soccer team. Now the 12 year old is set to represent NSW in the national primary schools competition.

TV architect Julian Brenchley’s new small bar venture looks likely to become Sydney’s newest celebrity hangout.

MOSMAN Council will replace a trashed boom gate near a “nightmare” rat run after a second illegal extension was installed and the entire boom broken.

(United States Supreme Court) - In a case involving the tipper and tippee liability provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-5, defendant's conviction of federal securities-fraud crimes for trading on inside information he received from a friend and relative-by-marriage, is affirmed where: 1) the Ninth Circuit properly applied Dirks v. SEC, 463 U.S. 646, to affirm defendant's conviction; and 2) under Dirks, the jury could infer that the tipper here personally benefited from making a gift of confidential information to a trading relative.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an issue of first impression involving the Securities and Exchange Commission's ability to disgorge ill-gotten funds from so-called 'relief defendants', the district court's final judgment, arising in connection with the SEC's enforcement action for federal securities law violations arising out of a fraudulent investment scheme, is affirmed where: 1) the district court properly asserted jurisdiction over appellants as relief defendants to determine the legal and factual legitimacy of appellants' claim to the $5 million; and 2) the district court did not clearly err in finding that the $5 million transfer as a loan was a sham.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed an investment firm founder's sentence for tax evasion. After pleading guilty, the firm founder was sentenced to prison and also ordered to pay restitution and a $10 million fine. On appeal, he challenged the fine, which was far higher than the amount recommended in his plea agreement. However, the Second Circuit saw no reason to overturn his sentence in any respect.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed a conviction for Medicaid theft, in a case where a billing manager embezzled payments that belonged to medical practice.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirmed that a patent for a water recreational board was invalid as obvious. On appeal, the patent holder argued that its invention of a recreational board that would help athletically challenged people ride on the water was not obvious. In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Circuit disagreed and affirmed the district court decision granting summary judgment to the defendant in this patent infringement action.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Reinstated a patent infringement claim relating to a design for a portable animal kennel. The patent owner insisted it should not be estopped by prosecution history from asserting its infringement claim against a competitor. Agreeing that estoppel did not apply, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court's judgment on the pleadings and remanded for further proceedings.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Held that a patent application covering the design of an athletic shoe bottom should not have been rejected. The applicant argued that the patent claim met the enablement and definiteness requirements even though it used a single two-dimensional plan-view drawing to disclose the shoe bottom design. Agreeing that a designer of ordinary skill in the art would be able to make comparisons for infringement purposes, the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's rejection of the patent claim.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Held that an individual could obtain judicial review of the federal government's denial of his petition under the Paperwork Reduction Act, which authorizes individuals to petition for a determination of whether they must provide information requested by a government agency. Reversed and remanded for further proceedings in the district court, in a case involving information collected by the Patent and Trademark Office.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that an inventor's sale of an invention to a third party who is obligated to keep the invention confidential can qualify as prior art for purposes of determining the patentability of the invention. The dispute here involved two pharmaceutical companies that disagreed about whether a certain drug was under patent; one of the companies wanted to market a generic version of it. Justice Thomas delivered the unanimous opinion.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that the defendants were entitled to an award of attorney fees in a Copyright and Lanham Act lawsuit after they prevailed by asserting a collateral estoppel defense. Affirmed the award of fees.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Revived a textile company's copyright infringement claims accusing certain competitors of illegally copying its floral lace designs. Reversed dismissals.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that the U.S. Postal Service was barred here from challenging a private company's patent for a method for processing mail. Because federal agencies do not fall within the statutory definition of a person, they are ineligible to petition the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to institute patent review proceedings under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011. Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the 6-3 Court.

(United States Second Circuit) - Reversed and remanded. The court concluded the 44 articles at issue were not works made for hire under the Copyright Act of 1976. District Court’s summary judgement in favor of RIT and denying the motion for partial summary judgement by the Estate reversed. Remanded for further proceedings.

MICHAEL Clarke will be targeted by Parramatta’s bowling attack when the former Australian cricket captain plays at Old Kings Oval on Saturday.

THEY’RE two of the NRL’s most promising stars and brothers Jake and Tom Trbojevic both play for Manly. But there are strong rumours the pair are about to jump ship to St George.

MANLY skipper Adam Crosthwaite expects his quicks to fire on Saturday should his team field first in their two-day clash versus Sydney.

MANLY United FC will host fixtures next season on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons in a bid to attract bigger crowds.

(UT Court of Appeals) - No. 20180488-CA

(Court of Appeals of New York) - In disciplinary proceeding against an attorney for various misconduct, including allegations that he failed to properly supervise the firm's bookkeeper resulting in misappropriation of client funds and that he breached his fiduciary duty by failing to safeguard those funds, the order of the Appellate Division is modified to dismiss the charge for failing to timely comply with the Grievance Committee's lawful demands for information where the imposition of this separate charge is unsupported by the record.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a law firm's suit to enforce a fee-splitting agreement against another law firm, arising from an underlying class action, trial court's judgment in favor of the defendant-law firm is reversed where an attorney may be equitably estopped from claiming that a fee-sharing contract is unenforceable due to noncompliance with rule 2-200 or rule 3.769, where that attorney is responsible for such noncompliance and has unfairly prevent another lawyer from complying with the rules' mandates.

(United States Second Circuit) - The subject attorney, admitted to the bar of this Court, is publicly reprimanded for his misconduct in this Court where: 1) he failed to timely file petitions for review, submitted deficient briefs, failed to file proper forms in eleven cases, and failed to timely file briefs in ten cases; and thus, 2) the Court's Committee on Admissions and Grievances's recommendations and findings of fact, with certain exceptions, are adopted.

(Court of Appeals of New York) - The appeal is dismissed upon the ground that the issues presented have become moot because the attorney was automatically disbarred upon his conviction of a felony on March 14, 2014.

(California Court of Appeal) - Judgment denying plaintiff-student's petition for writ of mandate to overturn a two-quarter suspension from the University of California San Diego for hitting another student in the head is affirmed, where the University's Student Conduct Code authorized either the student conduct officer responsible for his case or the Council of Deans of Student Affairs to impose suspension as a sanction when the student conduct review board did not recommend suspension.

(Court of Appeals of New York) - In this case, in an underlying federal action, the Securities and Exchange Commission moved for sanctions against appellant Dunn. The Magistrate Judge granted the motion in part. Respondent Committee of Professional Standards thereafter filed a petition alleging that Dunn had "engaged in fraudulent conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice adversely reflecting on her fitness as a lawyer" in violation of Rules of Professional Conduct 8.4(c), (d), and (h). The basis of the complaint was essentially the text of the Magistrate's sanctions opinion. Judgment of the Appellate Division finding Dunn guilty of the charged misconduct and finding that collateral estoppel applied to the Magistrate's sanctions order is reversed and the matter is remitted, where: 1) while the issue of whether Dunn had made false statements in her written declaration, it was not the focus of the hearing on the underlying motion for sanctions; and 2) the cursory nature of the sanctions proceedings itself failed to provide a full and fair opportunity to litigate the case.

(United States Third Circuit) - In an ethics case, the bankruptcy court's order to vacate a default judgment against the debtor after finding that plaintiffs' attorney, Max Folkenflik, intentionally deceived the court in omitting to inform it of a relevant settlement agreement is affirmed where Folkenflik's misconduct constituted a fraud on the court.

(California Court of Appeal) - Held that an attorney committed misconduct by manifesting gender bias. Reported him to the State Bar. The attorney had filed a notice of appeal that referred to a female judicial officer's ruling as succubustic, a word that refers to a demon assuming female form that has sexual intercourse with men in their sleep.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an action for copyright infringement and breach of an employment agreement arising out of defendant's sale of a toy doll idea to a competitor of plaintiff instead of disclosing and assigning it to plaintiff as required by the agreement, an injunction in favor of plaintiff is vacated where: 1) the district court’s imposition of a constructive trust forcing defendant-corporation to hand over its sweat equity was an abuse of discretion and must be vacated; 2) because the agreement’s language was ambiguous and some extrinsic evidence supported each party’s reading, the district court erred by granting summary judgment to plaintiff on this issue and holding that the agreement clearly assigned works made outside the scope of defendant's employment; and 3) the district court’s error in construing the employment agreement was sufficient to vacate the copyright injunction.

(United States Second Circuit) - In plaintiff's suit against its former employee for unauthorized access and misuse of a computer system and misappropriation of trade secrets in violation of Connecticut laws, district court's dismissal of the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction is reversed and remanded where the foreign defendant's use of a computer in Connecticut satisfied the jurisdictional requirement of both the Connecticut long-arm statute and due process.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In copyright infringement action brought by plaintiff, maker of Barbie dolls, against defendant, maker of Bratz dolls, judgment for defendant on counterclaim for trade secret misappropriation and awarding attorney fees for prevailing on copyright claim is: 1) reversed and remanded on defendant's counterclaim for trade secret misappropriation which did not rest on the same "aggregate core of facts" as plaintiff's claim, was thus, not compulsory; but 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding defendant fees and costs under the Copyright Act.

(United States Federal Circuit) - In an action alleging that the government misappropriated plaintiff's trade secrets, the Fifth Circuit's decision vacating the district court’s judgment for plaintiff and remanding the case for transfer of the case to the Claims Court under 28 U.S.C. section 1631, is affirmed, where: 1) the Fifth Circuit ruling that the case must be transferred to the Claims Court is law of the case; and 2) the Claims Court has jurisdiction over plaintiff's suit because although plaintiff brought the action under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which now must give way, plaintiff is within the class of those authorized to recover upon proof of breach of contract, injury, and amount of damages, as well as a Fifth Amendment taking.

(United States Federal Circuit) - In suit to correct inventorship of the "Tuschl Patents," the district court's denial of defendants' motion to dismiss is affirmed, where: 1) the district court did not err in ruling that this is not a dispute between States falling within the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; 2) plaintiff was free to choose between filing this suit in the Supreme Court and filing in federal district court; and 3) the University of Massachusetts is not an indispensable party.