Charges Filed in China Trade-Secrets Case A federal grand jury indicted a San Francisco Bay area couple on charges of conspiring to steal DuPont trade secrets and sell them to Chinese state-owned companies.
Illumina Assessed Conflicts Before Hiring Goldman A biotechnology company that retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for advice in fending off a hostile suitor revealed that it assessed conflict-of-interest concerns before hiring the bank.
One News Corp. Hack Case Set to Go to Trial News Corp.'s U.K. tabloid-newspaper unit has settled 54 of the 60 civil phone-hacking claims that victims had filed. A suit by singer Charlotte Church is the only one set to go to trial.
Lenovo Says Lanci Didn't Violate Acer Deal Lenovo said it is confident that its relationship with Acer's former CEO meets all legal requirements, after the rival computer maker started legal action against him for breaching a noncompete clause in a contract.
Oracle Seeks New Trial in SAP Case Oracle rejected a $272 million award in its intellectual-property theft case against SAP, an expected move that sets the stage for a new trial between the bitter software rivals.
U.K. Police Trawl News Corp. Emails Police investigating illegal newsgathering tactics in the media recovered a large cache of emails previously described by News Corp. as deleted.
Rate Probe Keys On Traders Investigators in a world-wide probe of how crucial interest rates are set are focusing on a small number of traders suspected of trying to influence other bank employees to manipulate the rates.
Honeywell Files Patent Suit Against Nest Labs Honeywell International claims in the suit that the Nest Labs infringed on patents related to simplified methods for operating and programming a thermostat, including controlling a thermostat with information stored in a remote location and user interfaces that facilitate programming and energy saving.
Proceedings | Highlights from the WSJ's Law Blog The play "8," about the Proposition 8 trial, will be performed in Los Angeles March 3 with George Clooney and Martin Sheen as David Boies and Ted Olson, the lawyers who took on the gay-marriage ban in California.
The Wrong End of Lawsuits Law firms are finding they increasingly are landing on the wrong end of lawsuits, getting sued by clients or facing claims of employment discrimination and firm mismanagement.
Pemex Seeks to Add Conoco, Shell Subsidiaries to Suit Pemex has filed a motion to add ConocoPhillips and subsidiaries of Shell PLC to a 2010 suit that seeks damages against companies that had allegedly purchased natural-gas condensate that Pemex said was stolen from its operations in northern Mexico.
U.S. Charges Swiss Bank in Tax Case Swiss private bank Wegelin was indicted on charges that it facilitated tax fraud by U.S. taxpayers, the Justice Department said.
U.K. Police Probe '09 Email Hacking U.K. police are investigating, at a politician's request, a 2009 email-hacking incident at News Corp.'s Times of London.
Samsung: Court Rejects Apple Bid Samsung Electronics said the Munich Regional Court has rejected Apple's request to ban sales in Germany of the Korean company's tablet computers and Nexus smartphones.
Guilty Pleas in Bond Case Hit 'Mark' Prosecutors unveiled criminal charges against three former Credit Suisse employees in a mortgage-bond probe tied to the financial crisis.
Hacking Email Was Deleted News Corp. lawyers said that, during an IT upgrade in early 2011, the company deleted an email from the inbox of James Murdoch in which company counsel spelled out a plaintiff's claim that phone-hacking was widespread at News of the World.
Law Grads Claim Schools Misled Lawsuits accusing a number of U.S. law schools of fudging post-graduate employment statistics were filed amid mounting controversy over the high cost of tuition and grim job prospects for debt-laden graduates.
Pesky Question of How Firms Value Exotic Securities Allegations that several former Credit Suisse Group AG employees misstated bond values revive a thorny question for investors: whether to trust the valuations companies assign their riskiest, most-illiquid assets.
Judge Declares Mistrial in Bribery 'Sting' Case A federal judge declared a mistrial in a case against three businesspeople charged with taking part in what undercover agents told them was a plan to bribe the defense minister of Gabon for a military contract.
Law Firms Pursue Growth by Poaching Law-firm partner defections rose last year, and legal experts predict the trend will continue this year as firms compete for established books of business amid sagging demand for legal services.
Two Acquitted in Foreign-Bribery Sting Trial A jury in Washington acquitted two businessmen Monday of criminal charges that they participated in what undercover investigators told them was a plan to bribe the defense minister of Gabon to win a military contract.
Cutoff Looms on Loan Accord State attorneys general have until Friday to join a potential national settlement of alleged foreclosure abuses, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Wynn Resorts Asks Nevada Court to Dismiss Partner's Request Wynn Resorts has asked a Nevada court to dismiss a request from the company's largest shareholder for disclosure of its financial documents, calling the investor's grievances "innuendo, hyperbole, half-truths and sweeping generalizations."
Law Firms Keep Squeezing Associates Law firms are finally starting to recover from the recession but aren't taking young lawyers along for the ride. Cautious partners with one eye on damaged balance sheets and the other on stingy clients are keeping lean silhouettes. That means little relief for young associates.
AMR's Nonunion Retirees Seek a Louder Voice AMR Corp.'s nonunion retirees, who fear their benefits are at risk as American Airlines' parent works to get leaner in Chapter 11, are seeking a louder voice in the case.
Proceedings | Highlights from the Law Blog In a recent survey of more than 500 federal judges, surprisingly few reported catching jurors using social media on the job.
Hope Is Rising for Mortgage Accord New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he is confident his main concern with a pending settlement of alleged bank- foreclosure abuses would be resolved, but he didn't commit to participating in an agreement.
Former Perelman Associate Wins $16 Million Award A jury awarded $16 million in damages to Donald Drapkin, a longtime business associate of financier Ronald Perelman, in a clash over millions of dollars in payments allegedly owed under agreements reached when the former executive left Mr. Perelman's company nearly five years ago.
Mets Owners Seek Dismissal of Madoff Lawsuit The owners of the New York Mets baseball team asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by the court-appointed trustee seeking to recover money for victims of convicted Ponzi-scheme-operator Bernard Madoff.
Email Disclaimers Proliferate, but Some Question Purpose Email disclaimers, those wordy notices at the end of emails from lawyers, bankers, analysts and others, have become ubiquitous—so much so that many recipients, and even senders, are questioning their purpose.
Megaupload Executives Get Bail Megaupload.com executives Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato were granted bail by a New Zealand judge as they await possible extradition to the U.S.
Scrushy Pressed for Cash Richard Scrushy is getting out of jail earlier than expected following a 2006 bribery conviction, but the founder of HealthSouth won't be free of creditors any time soon.
U.S. Court Rejects Chevron Bid to Block Ecuadorean Claim A U.S. appeals court threw out a bid by Chevron to block a group of Ecuadoreans from collecting a multibillion-dollar judgment over environmental damage.
Motorola Sues Apple Over iPhone Motorola Mobility Holdings filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, targeting the most recent version of the iPhone as Motorola's merger with Apple rival Google Inc. moves toward final regulatory approval.
Novartis Settles U.S. Case A U.S. subsidiary of Novartis agreed to pay $99 million to settle long-running overtime litigation involving its sale representatives.
The Red-Soled Shoe Case Shoemaker Christian Louboutin stepped into a Court of Appeals to make the case that it should effectively own the exclusive right to use red to coat the bottoms of its popular, pricey high-heeled shoes.
Con Artist in Sting That Cost Google Millions Over four months in 2009, a federal prisoner – and convicted con artist – was the lead actor in a government sting targeting Google that yielded one of the largest business forfeitures in U.S. history.
Police Knew Tabloid Had Voice Mails News of the World staff made it clear to British police in 2002 that they had access to voice mails from the mobile phone of a missing teenager, but police failed to arrest or charge anyone at the tabloid for phone hacking.
Letting Citizens Be 'Forgotten' EU Commissioner Viviane Reding says a new uniform data-protection law will give companies operating in Europe legal clarity; European companies, a competitive advantage; and European citizens, unparalleled control over their data.
HCA-Owned Hospital Ordered to Pay $178M in Suit A Florida jury Monday awarded a surgery patient $10 million in punitive damages in his suit against HCA Holdings Inc.'s Memorial Hospital Jacksonville, raising the plaintiff's compensation to $178 million.
When Lawyers Become 'Trolls' A big change is afoot in patent law, and nothing illustrates that better than John Desmarais and Matt Powers. They used to defend companies' patents. Now, they're what are some critics call "patent trolls."
Lawyer Charged With Defrauding Client A former Manhattan real-estate lawyer who allegedly fled to Hong Kong was arraigned late Friday on charges that he embezzled more than $7 million from a client, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said.
Prison Beating Clouds Stanford Trial R. Allen Stanford is headed to trial on Monday for an alleged $7.2 billion fraud. But the effects of a 2009 beating he suffered in prison are complicating the case against him.
Probation Pays Bills for Prosecutors As district attorneys nationwide try to cope with shrinking state budgets, Oklahoma prosecutors have seized on a novel—and increasingly controversial—money raiser: running their own probation programs.
Law Firms Get the Marriage Bug Business is slow. Clients demand discounts. And top partners are being poached by rivals. For many law firms, these factors have created a brutal axiom: Merge or die.
Foreign Copyrights Upheld The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1994 law that granted copyright protection to a large number of foreign works that had been freely available in the public domain.
With New Law, Profits Take a Back Seat A slew of companies plan to take advantage of a new and untested "benefit corporation" charter, which allows a company's governing board to consider social or environment objectives ahead of profits.
Web-Piracy Bill Faces Fiercer Fight Supporters of antipiracy legislation face a struggle to regain momentum after the White House sided with irate Internet companies and users and complained that the proposal could hurt companies and undermine cybersecurity.
Romney Faces Heat on Immigration Mitt Romney's embrace of Kris Kobach, the man behind laws intended to rid states like Arizona of illegal immigrants, is drawing fire from immigrant advocates.
Trustee Sues Madoff Investors to Recover $187.5 Million The official recovering funds for Bernard Madoff's swindled investors is suing several international firms for a total of $187.5 million.
