The en banc opinion in Ariad v. Lilly means academics can't get patent protection for cutting-edge research if they can't describe what their discovery does.

The judge leapt at the opportunity to weigh in on Twombly pleading standards, taking less than four weeks to write an opinion that accepted an interlocutory appeal and--without merits briefing or oral argument--concluded the trial court could give a lot of leeway to plaintiffs alleging a price-fixing conspiracy.

After a federal judge refused to certify an economic damages class, he granted a motion to enjoin certification of a similar state court class in West Virginia. On Tuesday, despite cries of unfairness by the state court plaintiffs, the Eight Circuit upheld the injunction.

Eighteen months after U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff set off alarm bells on Wall Street by concluding that Goldman Sachs must pay more than $20 million for clearing trades for a fraud-riddled hedge fund, an appellate panel has tepidly endorsed the ruling.

Who can blame the Supreme Court for wanting no part of Chevron Corporation's multi-billion dollar slugfest over its predecessor's operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon? On Tuesday the high court steered clear of the toxic litigation over toxic sludge, refusing to review a ruling that limited Chevron's options for fighting an $18 billion judgment by an Ecuadorian court.

It's becoming clear that patent wars over smart phone technology are going to spread revenue to Am Law firms like manure over undernourished soil. Kirkland has filed the latest smart phone suit--Apple's infringement case against the phone-maker HTC--but it turns out that K&E has quietly been representing Apple in the Nokia case as well. Plus: a rundown of all the firms involved in the smart phone litigation to date.