Federal Judiciary

New invitation briefs

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

The Solicitor General recently filed invitation briefs in two cases:  No. 08-1423, Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, and No. 09-400, Staub v. Proctor Hosp.

The government?s brief recommends that certiorari be denied in Costco, which presents the question whether a copy made outside the United States by the owner of the United States copyright is ?lawfully made? for purposes of Title 17 of the United States Code and therefore covered by a statutory exception to the general ban on unauthorized importations.  The Court had requested the government?s views in October.

The government recommended that certiorari be granted in Staub, which asks the Court to review whether and in what circumstances an employer may be liable under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1984, based on the anti-military animus of supervisors who did not take an adverse employment action themselves, but whose anti-military animus was a motivating factor for that action.  The Court had requested the government?s views in this case in November.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 18, 2010 (boomark / email).