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Barry Barnett

Business trial lawyer

Recent Activity

Join The Contingency

Dear Blawgletterati Member, You, a special person You belong to an elite group – the highly intelligent readers of Blawgletter, one of the 10 all-time most popular Trials and Litigation law blogs on Justia. With Blawgletter’s farewell, after nearly a... Continue reading

Posted Jun 28, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Blawgletter® Has Moved!

Blawgletter® has moved to a new location, and is now The Contingency. You will be redirected shortly. Continue reading

Posted Jun 16, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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DNA and Pricing Patents Fall to Mayo and Alice

Unpatentable subject matter A pair of Federal Circuit opinions last week rejected patents involving patent-ineligible subject matter. What does that include, you ask? As Blawgletter noted last year in "You Still Can't Patent Ideas": Section 101 of the Patent Act... Continue reading

Posted Jun 14, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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The Value of Class Actions Just Fell. Again.

Another Term, another chance to gut class actions If you've watched the Supreme Court over the last several years, you may have marveled at how earnestly some of the justices have worked to render Rule 23 a dead letter. Behold:... Continue reading

Posted Jun 10, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Seven Years, and a Verdict, Down the Drain

Snares Patent law features so many traps that even the wary fall in one now and then. It happened again last week. This time the ruling concerned standing, an issue that goes to the power of a court to decide... Continue reading

Posted Jun 7, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Contingent Fees and Taxes for Qui Tam Relators

As the June 16th launch date for The Contingency gets ever closer, Blawgletter post from five years ago offers a preview of the sort of subjects The Contingency will deal with on a more regular basis. Barry Barnett * *... Continue reading

Posted Jun 3, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Reverse Contingent Fees

In a couple of weeks, Blawgletter will end its eight-year run as my principal law blog. On Tuesday, June 16, I will launch The Contingency: Insights on Sharing the Risks and Rewards of High-Stakes Business Disputes. You'll get more info... Continue reading

Posted May 31, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Patent Infringers Lose a Scary Defense

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken away a potentially devastating defense from companies that induce others to infringe patents. The Court ruled in Commil USA, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., No. 13-896, slip op. at 10 (U.S. May 26, 2015),... Continue reading

Posted May 26, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Apple Loses $382 Million on Trade Dress Verdict

Apple v. Samsung Saga In 2012 and 2013, two Silicon Valley juries awarded Apple a total of $929,860,041 for Samsung's use in its smartphones and tablets of three intellectual property types -- design patents, utility patents, and trade dress (or... Continue reading

Posted May 25, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Does the Supreme Court Disfavor Limitations Defenses?

Focus on substance over procedure The Supreme Court just vacated a judgment that enforced a six-year statute of limitations against beneficiaries of a employer savings plan. The ruling reinforces the view that this Court feels little love for limitations defenses.... Continue reading

Posted May 20, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Federal Circuit Split Highlights Patent Policy Debate

Policy debate If a firm that performs steps A, B, and C of a "method" patent induces the firm's customers to take step D -- the final one -- does the firm infringe the patent? The question -- which a... Continue reading

Posted May 17, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Tips on Interviewing Fact Witnesses, Part 2

Nuts and bolts, part two Last time, we went over how to set up and get ready for an interview of a fact witness. Now we get to the main event. These tips apply mainly in the context of gathering... Continue reading

Posted May 13, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Tips on Interviewing Fact Witnesses

How-to tips, in two parts You’ve identified someone as a potential fact witness in a dispute that involves or may involve your client. You want to find out what subjects the witness knows about. You don’t yet need to depose... Continue reading

Posted May 10, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Vexing judges Bryan Garner writes in his ABA Journal column that "[t]here's a disconnect between what judges say they want" in briefs "and what lawyers give them." He offers three reasons to favor the judges' view -- "the 'halo effect'",... Continue reading

Posted May 6, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Fifth Circuit Upholds $25 Million Contingent Fee

Keys to the court house The contingent-fee option enables a claimant who has a valuable claim but can't afford hourly fees to hire a lawyer. He pays with a promise to share his recovery with the lawyer in return for... Continue reading

Posted May 3, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 7: Surface Damage

Surface damage – what must operators do to accommodate existing uses of the surface estate? Today we conclude Blawgletter's seven-part series on the Hottest Oil & Gas Claims for 2015, a paper we co-wrote for the 66th Oil & Gas... Continue reading

Posted Apr 29, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Price-Fixing Claims Parry Field Preemption in Supreme Court

Pre-emption? Ha! A 7-2 split on the U.S. Supreme Court last week revived state-law antitrust claims against natural-gas pipelines. End-user (or retail) customers alleged that the pipelines conspired to rig index prices and thus inflate sales prices. The ruling gave... Continue reading

Posted Apr 26, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 6: Unreasonable Expenses

Short-payment of royalties – when do post-production costs cross the line into unreasonableness? This next-to-last entry in Blawgletter's seven-part series on the hottest oil & gas claims for returns to the theme of royalty owners who receive less than they... Continue reading

Posted Apr 19, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 5: Exculpatory Clauses

Blawgletter's seven-part exposition of the hottest oil and gas claims for 2015 (which we co-wrote for the Institute for Energy Law's 66th Oil & Gas Law Conference in Houston) moves into an area that plaintiffs hate and defendants love --... Continue reading

Posted Apr 12, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 4: Flaring Gas

Blawgletter offers the fourth installment in the seven-part series on the Hottest Oil & Gas Claims for 2015. This time, we address whether flaring gas qualifies as "use" on which the operator must pay royalties. Legal backdrop Royalty clauses typically... Continue reading

Posted Apr 6, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Frack Ban Doesn't Extend Lease, High Court Holds

Oil and gas and the Empire State Does a state's years-long ban on the fracking of oil and gas wells extend the "primary" term of a lease until the ban ends, allowing the frackers who couldn't frack more time to... Continue reading

Posted Apr 1, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 3: What Counts as a Well?

Short-payment of royalties Today we come to number three in Blawgletter's seven-part series on The Hottest Oil & Gas Claims for 2015, a paper that we presented at the 66th Annual Oil & Gas Conference in Houston. The third topic... Continue reading

Posted Mar 29, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 2: New Drilling Technology

Breach of covenant to administer lease -- must the operator use the latest drilling and completion technology? Today Blawgletter continues our seven-part series from the 66th Annual Oil & Gas Law Conference in Houston with part 2. We turn now... Continue reading

Posted Mar 25, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Flimsy Opinions and Securities Fraud

False opinions Giving a knowingly false opinion about a public company can expose the company and its insiders to liability for securities fraud under federal law. But what about an opinion that they truly believe but for which they have... Continue reading

Posted Mar 24, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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Hottest Oil & Gas Claims, Part 1: Busting Leases

The collapse in oil prices since June 2014, and the significant drop in those for natural gas, have put tremendous pressures on relationships in the industry. The stresses -- between operators and non-operators, lessees and royalty owners, principals and contractors,... Continue reading

Posted Mar 22, 2015 at Blawgletter®

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