Could this patent dispute be the next Broadcom v. Qualcomm? One thing's for sure: Wilmer's Bill Lee is in the thick of it.

In a ruling that brought back bad memories of the myriad embarrassments provoked by the previous administration's Justice Department, Washington, D.C., federal district court judge John Bates tossed out claims by six spurned Justice Department candidates against five former Justice officials--but he made it clear he disapproved of the officials' alleged conduct.

Toyota has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle multi-district litigation over financial losses associated with acceleration problems reported in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The Japanese car maker and plaintiffs lawyers filed a copy of their proposed settlement Wednesday in federal court in Orange County, California.

Class action plaintiffs lawyers may be tallying up the settlements they've won in the sprawling San Francisco antitrust litigation over flat panel liquid crystal displays, but the fight is still in full swing for the many LCD purchasers, like Dell Inc., that opted out of the class to pursue their own price-fixing claims.

In a potentially ruinous suit for the gift card industry, a company called Every Penny Counts claimed that all gift cards violated its patents on technology for transferring "excess cash." The Federal Circuit thought differently.