In In re Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation, No. 15-11835 (SCC) (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Mar. 8, 2016), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a bench decision granting Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation’s motion to reject three gas gathering agreements and a handling agreement that were governed by Texas law. In doing…

In Genuine Parts Company v. Cepec, the DelawareSupreme Court held that the provisions of Delaware’sGeneral Corporation Law (DGCL) requiring foreigncorporations to register to qualify to do business inthe State of Delaware and to appoint an agent forservice of process do not, of themselves, operate tosubject the foreign corporation to general jurisdictionin Delaware. The Court in …

In In re Wal-Mart Stores Delaware Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 7455-CB (Del. Ch. May 13, 2016), the DelawareCourt of Chancery held that an order of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas dismissing anArkansas complaint precluded Delaware plaintiffs from litigating demand futility in a Delaware derivative actionchallenging the same underlying conduct. Although the…

On May 5, 2016, Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed into law House Bill 237, substantially lowering the premium tax rate for trust-owned, private placement life insurance contracts covering the life of an individual. The new law lowers the premium tax rate to 2% for the first $100,000 in net premiums and 0.0% on net premiums in…

On Wednesday, May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor issued its Final Rule raising the overtime salary threshold required to qualify for the Fair Labor Standard Act’s “white collar” exemption to $47,476 per year, more than double the current threshold of $23,660.

The Defendant Trade Secrets Act of 2016 was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 and allows companies for the first time to directly file a federal civil lawsuit in federal court for the theft of trade secrets.

This update provides short updates on judicial decisions, trends, and notable events in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, traditionally one of the three busiest jurisdictions for intellectual property litigation.

In Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Toshiba Corp., C.A. No. 13-453-SLR (D. Del. Apr. 20, 2016), Judge Robinson scheduled an in-person hearing to ensure that the parties were proceeding through expert discovery with a “discrete set of accused products and the sales figures” at issue. Judge Robinson was concerned that the parties may not have reached…

In Scientific Telecommunications LLC v. ADTRAN, Inc., C.A. No. 15-647-SLR (D. Del. Apr. 25, 2016), Judge Robinson denied defendant ADTRAN, Inc.’s (“ADTRAN”) motion to transfer the case to the Northern District of Alabama. ADTRAN argued that the case should be transferred to Alabama because its headquarters, approximately 1346 employees, and business records were all located in…

In Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. v. Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC, C.A. No. 15-777-LPS-CJB (D. Del. Apr. 25, 2016), a declaratory judgment action, Magistrate Judge Burke concluded in a report and recommendation that the Court did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendant, Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC, a Texas limited liability company (“Plano”). The plaintiff argued…