Manhattan district judge Scheindlin: "As I (and others) have repeatedly stated, the fact that damages must be calculated on an individual basis" is not fatal to class certification.

Microsoft is apparently fed up with patent holding companies allegedly shaking down its customers in East Texas patent suits. The target this time: DataTern, which has sued at least 122 companies since 2008 for allegedly infringing its database software patents.

A federal judge in Manhattan certified a global class of investors who sank billions into Fairfield Greenwich funds that fed Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. But the judge excluded investors in 25 countries, singling out nations ranging from France, Switzerland, Israel, and China to the tiny islands of Picairn and Tokelau.