GLG News in Legal, Economic & Regulatory Affairs

1. One of the reasons behind the new draft for the regulation of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy in Spain, which changes dramatically this sector’s regulation, is the significant effect that, the Ministry for Industry argues, the PV feed-in tariff has on the electricity tariff. But this is neither the only nor the most important factor. 2. The second reason is to provide the right incentives for...

1. The merger of British Airways and Iberia makes good common sense for at least five reasons. 2. It could even be the first step towards the largest airline in the world by merging in the future with their partner American Airlines.

1. It seems very unlikely that any last-minute surprise avoids that Gas Natural, finally and after two other attempts in 2003 and 2005, takes over a Spanish electricity company. 2. The next battle is going to be fought in Iberdrola’s court, but it’s going to be very difficult for ACS’ Florentino Pérez to win the battle against the “master and commander” of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán.

1. The cap on photovoltaic (PV) power capacity will be based on annual caps with the new regulation, rather than on accumulative power, as with current regulation. 2. Feed-in tariffs are significantly cut by the new regulation, especially for on-the-ground facilities.

Siemens announced that the Supervisory Board has approved recommendations of its law firm to claim damages from executive board members in charge between 2003 and 2006. It will be the first time in German history that a chief executive of a company listed on the German blue-chip stock index DAX has been sued for damages by his former employer.

With the Nokia fight now resolved, QCOM's primary litigation issues all involve Broadcom.  The most pressing of those is QCOM's pending attempt to reverse its loss last year at the International Trade Commission.  On that, recent events bode well.

There are two big BRCM/QCOM cases rapidly moving toward their final scenes: the ITC case, which I discuss in a previous post; and the Santa Ana patent case, where BRCM asserts three patents.  Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit heard the appeal in the Santa Ana case; and if they heard the issues the way I did, QCOM gained considerable ground, in particular on the '686 patent.

Will fines like this against a health care provider increase the likelihood of coverage for existing & future claims? Will insurance coverage in general be affected by fines like this?

A few years back, RIMM was the poster child for a firm whose procedural decisions cost it a fortune.  Back then, the problem was that RIMM challenged NTP's patents, but did so too late, such that RIMM lost its court case before the Patent Office had enough time to reevaluate and ultimately call into question the patents.  Fast forward to this summer, however, and RIMM has learned its lesson. ...

Earlier this month, Judge Whyte announced that he would hold a hearing in late August to evaluate whether the QUANTA decision out of the Supreme Court has any impact on the pending Hynix remedy.  Hynix's lawyers think it does.  I disagree.