After a little-known Pittsburgh firm lost the en banc Federal Circuit appeal that significantly tightened standards of business methods patents, the IP powerhouse took over the appeal--and, despite resistance from the U.S. solicitor general and a big swath of the patent bar, won a grant of certiorari.

An unlikely collaboration between an appellate heavyweight, a big-firm associate, and a Long Island criminal defense lawyer produced a landmark Second Circuit ruling this week in a closely-watched off-label drug marketing case.

An appellate court ruled on Thursday that the Federal Aviation Act preempts the state regulation of all airlines. The decision came in a long-running litigation in which major carriers have been accused of conspiring to keep cargo shipping rates artificially high.

A dozen Am Law firms failed to convince a federal judge in San Francisco to throw out claims that many of the world's leading consumer electronics companies conspired to fix prices for CD, DVD and Blu Ray recordable and rewritable drives.

On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether Monsanto can claim patent protection for later-generation seed grown from its patented line of genetically modified soybean seed. The case has implications for other self-replicating technologies such as stem cells and vaccines.

PRECEDENTIALArgued May 11, 2009Before: AMBRO, ROTH and ALARCÓN*fn1 , Circuit Judges.OPINION OF THE COURTFrederick Schiff and Richard Lane were