Facebook Flap: The social networking site Facebook could soon find itself in federal court in Philadelphia defending against claims of patent infringement, the Legal Intelligencer reports. The plaintiff, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, also known as XACP, claims it holds the rights to a patent for an Internet-based "community for users with common interests to interact in" that was invented in 2000, four years before Facebook was launched.
Protected Notes: A federal appeals court ruled Thursday the attorney-client privilege protects handwritten notes and memorandums that Sidley Austin wrote during an investigation of alleged sexual abuse by a music teacher. The National Law Journal story is here. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled the notes and memos are protected even though the lawyers who prepared the material were not handling the lawsuit that sparked the investigation.
New Rules, New Litigation?: In a move likely to bring a surge of suits, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation on Thursday finalized the first-ever national greenhouse gas emission levels for cars and light trucks, The National Law Journal reports. Click here for a write-up in The Washington Post.
Wiretap Fallout: This week's ruling in a high-profile suit alleging unlawful wiretap could force a discussion in the Obama administration about how aggressive it should be in defending Bush-era counterterrorism policy, The New York Times reports.
KBR, Under Fire: The Justice Department yesterday filed suit against defense contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root that alleges the company filed false statements in billing the government for private armed security guards in violation of a contract with the Army. The Washington Post has the story here and The BLT here.
Welcome to Topeka, John: No, Google didn't really rename itself "Topeka" and The Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, isn't dropping the "s" from Johns. (Explanation of the name "Johns" here.) April Fools' day has come and gone. Stories here, here and here on the day's made-up news.
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