Summary: The Supreme Court this week issued opinions in four cases, granted certiorari to one new case and heard four cases in oral arguments. We begin this week with a review of the Court's grant of certiorari in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., wherein the Court considers the first sale doctrine codified in section 109(a) of the Copyright Act, which allows the owner of a copyrighted work that was lawfully acquired under the Act to sell or otherwise dispose of the copy without the copyright owner's permission, and whether the first sale doctrine applies to works made and legally acquired abroad and then imported for resale into the United States. We next consider the Court's opinion and decision this week in Filarsky v. Delia, a case which considered whether a private attorney who was temporarily retained by a government entity was entitled to qualified immunity when he was sued for actions he took in his role as an investigator for the government. Next, we review the Court's opinion and decision this week in Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority, concerning a case brought by the family of an American citizen seeking to hold the Palestinian Authority liable for the wrongful death of their family member under the Torture Victim Protection Act. The Act authorizes lawsuits against quote "individuals" and the Court resolves the question of whether that word encompasses organizations. Finally, we consider the Court's opinion this week in Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. v. Novo Nordisk A/S, wherein the Supreme Court considers the process of generic drug approval by the FDA, and under what circumstances a generic drug company may bring a counterclaim against a brand name drug manufacturer when the brand name drug manufacturer challenges the generic drug company for patent infringement. GRANTS OF CERTIORARI (click on case name to download lower court decision) Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Second Circuit) OPINIONS (click to download) Filarsky v. Delia (10-1018) Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority (11-88) Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. v. Novo Nordisk A/S (10-844) Kappos v. Hyatt (10-1219) ORAL ARGUMENT TRANSCRIPTS AND AUDIO (click to download) Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. (11-204) Audio Transcript Dorsey v. United States (11-5683) Hill v. U.S. (11-5721) Audio Transcript Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter (11-551) Audio Transcript
