News & Analysis as of

Contract Interpretation Appeals

Haug Partners LLP

License to Exclude? Federal Circuit Emphasizes Need for Reliability of Patent Damages Experts in EcoFactor Inc. v. Google LLC

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On May 21, 2025, in an en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated its earlier panel ruling and remanded the case of EcoFactor Inc. v. Google LLC for further proceedings. The court focused on...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Fifth Circuit Finds ANR Pipeline’s Tariff Does Not Require Simultaneous Delivery for Short-Notice Shipments

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On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) addressed a dispute between ANR Pipeline Company (“ANR”) and FERC. The case centered on the interpretation of ANR’s tariff and whether it...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Riding on Empty: ‘Stang’ With No Anthropomorphic Characteristics Isn’t Copyrightable Character

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of copyright protection for a car that had a name but no anthropomorphic or protectable characteristics. Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. v....more

White & Case LLP

Federal Circuit Tightens Standard for Patent Damages Experts

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On May 21, 2025, the Federal Circuit issued an en banc decision in EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC, highlighting the critical gatekeeping role of district courts under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert standards,...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Decides Who Must Produce to Maintain an Oil and Gas Lease

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In Cromwell v. Anadarko E & P Onshore LLC the Supreme Court of Texas did what it so often does: In order to provide “legal certainty and predictability”, the Court considered the plain language of a contract in order to...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Supreme Court of Texas Washes Out the “Anadarko Washout”

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The so called “Anadarko Washout” involves a washout of oil and gas leases on undivided working interests owned by non-operating mineral cotenants. This particular species of lease washouts is based on two recent cases from...more

Venable LLP

Federal Circuit Issues Rare En Banc Decision on Patent Damages

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In the first en banc decision for a utility patent case since 2018, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a new trial on damages in EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC and held that EcoFactor's damages expert's...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Sixth Circuit Rules That Driller Must Establish Marketability of Each Gas Product Under Market Enhancement Clause

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Let’s assume you own 105 acres in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2020, you signed an oil and gas lease with ABC Exploration. During the negotiations, you agreed that only those post-production costs which actually...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Limits of Shut-In Payment Notations in Lease Disputes

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In this case (Scout Energy Mgmt., LLC v. Taylor Properties, No. 23-1014, 2024 WL 5249490 [Tex. Dec. 31, 2024]), the Texas Supreme Court held that vague notations on shut-in royalty check receipts cannot modify an unambiguous...more

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

Construction Law Update - First Quarter 2025

GRSM’s Construction Group is pleased to publish the latest issue of our Construction Law Update, a quarterly take on trends of interest to design professionals, contractors, and developers throughout the country....more

McGinnis Lochridge

Can a Production Sharing Agreement Override Surface Owner Consent? Hamilton v. ConocoPhillips Explored

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A landowner’s failure to provide consent for surface use related to oil and gas operations does not necessarily preclude the lessee from conducting activities if the lease agreements allow surface use....more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Federal Circuit in EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC Probes the Limits for Gatekeeping Damages Testimony

Last week, in EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC, the Federal Circuit issued its first en banc decision in a utility patent case in several years. The case involves the gatekeeping function of district courts vis-à-vis expert...more

Proskauer - The Patent Playbook

EcoFactor v. Google: The Federal Circuit Clarifies Damages Expert Admissibility

Admissibility standards for patent damages experts has come under scrutiny. Previously, we highlighted the EcoFactor v. Google case regarding Google’s petition for rehearing en banc to address the admissibility of EcoFactor’s...more

Mayer Brown

Legal Developments in Construction Law: May 2025

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1. ABSENCE OF NOVATION SINKS ADJUDICATION AWARD AGAINST ASSIGNEE - A contractor obtained an adjudication award against an assignee of its employer, which had gone into administration.  But was that assignee the correct...more

Warner Norcross + Judd

Michigan Court of Appeals Splits with Federal Courts and Holds Standard Stellantis Contract Terms Enforceable

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Earlier this week, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued its opinion in FCA US, LLC v. Kamax Inc., et al., the latest in a string of court decisions interpreting the enforceability of supply chain contracts in the wake of the...more

McGinnis Lochridge

All Depths or Just One Formation? Court Clarifies Royalty Conveyance in Rock River v. Pioneer

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This recent case (Rock River Minerals, LP v. Pioneer Nat. Res. USA Inc., No. 08-23-00216-CV, 2024 WL 4528917 [Tex. App.—El Paso Oct. 18, 2024, no pet. h.]) explored whether an assignment of an overriding royalty interest,...more

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

From Court to Contract: Navigating Recent Supreme Court and Appellate Decisions

Recent Canadian case law is reshaping how legal drafters should approach contractual clauses. Key decisions, including rulings from the Supreme Court of Canada and appellate courts in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Affirmative Defenses Are Insufficient to Rebut the Van Dyke Presumption

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Under Van Dyke, deeds with double-fraction royalty reservations referencing “1/8” are presumed to reserve a floating royalty interest unless clearly contradicted. Defenses like waiver, ratification, and limitations cannot...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Fifth Circuit: "Manifest Disregard of the Law" Cannot Be Grafted to FAA as a Basis for Vacatur of Arbitration Award

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In affirming a district court’s denial of a petition to vacate an arbitration award, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently rejected the argument “that manifest disregard of the law remains viable as an...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Can "Free of Cost" Term Achieve Point-of-Sale Royalty Base?

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A lessee who halts production for less than 40 days and resumes without drilling or reworking does not terminate the lease. The continuous development clause keeps the lease active, and the cessation clause allows resumed...more

Clark Hill PLC

California Supreme Court holds that limitations of liability provisions are unenforceable for willful conduct under Civil Code...

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In response to a request from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to interpret the scope of California Civil Code section 1668 and its rule that parties may not contract away liability for “willful injury to the person or...more

BCLP

Does “Back to Back” Mean “Pay When Paid” in Construction Contracts?

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In Sze Fung Engineering Limited v Trevi Construction Company Limited [2025] HKCA 278, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal (“CA”) ruled that the “back to back” wording in that case was not a “pay when paid” clause, but governed only...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Termination Provisions and the Perils of Imprecise Drafting: Key Lessons from De Castro v Arista Homes Limited

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The Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent decision in De Castro v Arista Homes Limited, 2025 ONCA 260 (De Castro) provides Ontario employers with yet another reminder about the importance of clear and concise drafting in...more

Oliva Gibbs

Reservation or Limitation on Warranty? Navigating the Fine Line — Lessons from Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson

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In Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson1, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana addressed whether the provision, “all Oil, Gas and other Minerals have been excepted and reserved by former...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Tackling Free-Use and At-The-Well Royalties

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This lease royalty case involved a dispute over whether the lessee was permitted to deduct volumes of gas used off the premises to power post-production activities on other gas produced from the same well. Carl v. Hilcorp...more

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