Part of the pharmaceutical giant's $1.4 billion settlement will go to the whistle-blowers who first claimed Lilly was improperly marketing the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa.

In the Avandia and Paxil mass torts, there's been no testing of liability through a series of bellwether trials and no mass claims process. Instead GSK has cherry-picked plaintiffs lawyers and settled their dockets relatively early. Has Glaxo found a new way to resolve mass torts--or is it making a big mistake?

Philadelphia federal district court judge Gene Pratter proved once again that she can serve up a good egg joke. But it's a good bet the defendants aren't laughing.

It's the epitome of irony. Last year, Zydus left it to seven other generic companies to challenge the validity of Lilly's patent on Strattera. They won a ruling that the patent is invalid, but were promptly enjoined from selling generics while Lilly appeals. Guess who's not enjoined? That's right: Zydus, which is rushing to capitalize on its unexpected advantage.

Mobile device makers aren't the only ones in Digitude's sights. In a pair of suits filed in Los Angeles federal district court, the upstart patent licensing company took on seven of the country's most popular video streaming sites.

Merck and its lawyers at Skadden struck out last week in a Kentucky case challenging the practice of state prosecutors outsourcing enforcement duties to contingency-fee counsel. Litigation over the practice is far from settled, however, as appellate courts in at least two other states continue to weigh the issue.

With damning news emerging every day about the pharma company's alleged attempts to hide the cardiovascular risks associated with its diabetes drug, GSK's settlement strategy in the 13,000-case product liability litigation is looking pretty smart.