Mediaboss Marketing

San JoseNovember 4, 2020November 5, 2020

A screenshot from the First Amendment Under Fire forum hosted by San Jos Spotlight and First Amendment Coalition.

As the country grappled with the police killing of George Floyd, San Jose found itself at the center of widespread protests, confrontational policing and conversations about police brutality, racial bias and First Amendment rights of protesters and journalists.

What has San Jose its people, elected leaders and civic institutions learned from a season of protest? How does a community balance First Amendment rights with public safety?

San Jos Spotlight teamed up with the First Amendment Coalition for a dynamic discussion featuring policymakers, activists and legal experts.

The discussion dug deep into the movement for racial justice, recent legislative proposals to increase police accountability and the clashes between law enforcement and those engaged in activity protected by the First Amendment.

San Jos Spotlight is a 501(c)3 nonprofit news organization thats 100% funded by your support. Please help us continue bringing high-quality, independent political and business news coverage to San Jose by joining our membership program with a tax-deductible donation today.

Donate Now

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

Read the original:
WATCH: What has San Jose learned from a season of protests? - San Jos Spotlight

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based nonprofit backed by the internet giants, sued over the order in June, arguing it violates the First Amendment. And voter advocacy groups in late August filed a separate suit, arguing it would hurt voters who get electoral information through social media.

Although the Biden campaign balked at Trumps executive order, the former vice president found himself in rare agreement with Trump about the legal protections it targets. Biden said in an interview published in January that the online industrys legal shield afforded under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should be immediately revoked, but his campaign hasnt outlined how he would revamp or revoke it.

But the two candidates hold the same position for opposite reasons: Trump says social media platforms have been too punitive in cracking down on messages from him and his allies, while Biden says the companies havent done enough to curb misleading posts by politicians.

It remains unclear how Bidens administration will tackle the issue, however. Asked about his position on Section 230 in May, a campaign spokesperson said Biden wants to use legislation to hold social media companies accountable for knowingly spreading falsehoods, without elaborating.

Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in the Democratic primary on a platform of modernizing regulations on tech and the future of work, said in an interview hes against repealing Section 230 without a replacement and that he hopes to work with a potential Biden administration on reforming it instead.

You don't want to eliminate it altogether, Yang said.

Hopefully under a Biden-Harris administration we can start to do the hard work of figuring out what Section 230 should actually look like in 2020 or 2021, he added.

Go here to see the original:
Biden wants to tackle legal protections for tech companies, though its unclear how hed do it - POLITICO

Jannette Pippin|The Daily News

The votes have not yet been certified in Onslow County but efforts have already begun by community members hoping to stop a controversial candidate newly elected to the Board of Education from serving on the board.

Eric Whitfield, who faced allegations of racism early in his campaign and was denounced by the Onslow County GOP, was elected on Nov. 3 in a Republican sweep of the four open seats that upset three long-time members of the board who chose to run as unaffiliated candidates in the partisan race.

As news of the Election Night results spread Wednesday, two efforts quickly emerged on social media by residents concerned about Whitfield sittingon the school board.

While Whitfield would have to resign his newly elected seat, since there is no recall function, those concerned say action is needed.

An online petition has been started on ipetitions.com entitled Recall/Remove Eric Whitfield for Board of Education.

Eric Whitfield does not represent the students, staff, stakeholders, or citizens of Onslow County and should not represent a school district in which he has absolutely no invested interests. His beliefs and views are racially charged and individualistically motivated. We want him out! the petition states.

Nefatina Everhart, an Onslow County educator and parent with children in Onslow County Schools, created the petition due to concerns within the community, which she said have come from both sides of the political spectrum.

There are concerns from citizens on both sides, Democrat and Republican. It is not a partisan effort, Everhart said. Many people feel the Board of Education should be nonpartisan. That is why we are here where we are; education has become partisan.

Everhart plans to present the petition to the Board of Education at the Nov. 10 meeting.

Everhart said Whitfield has made highly publicized comments on social media that she said are not only racially charged but show a lack of interest in serving on the school board or acting in the interest of the students.

His main objective is to put taxpayers in front of students, Everhart said.

Serving the taxpayers is a goal he has not denied.

I have never once said that I represent the children. Not one single child voted for me. I have chosen to give representation to other stakeholders that are never represented on the School Board. I represent the taxpayers. There are already plenty of board members to look out for the children, Whitfield said in comments responding to questions from The Daily News.

Whitfield was elected to the school board along with Republican incumbent Ken Reddic and Republican newcomers Melissa Oakley and Joseph Speranza.

After winning the partys nomination in March, Whitfield was fired from his job at Jacksonville Christian Academy and received backlash for a comment posted on Facebook that used the term ignorant darkies in reference to Black people.

Whitfield has called the petition silly and said his comments are protected by the First Amendment.

The petition is silly. Free speech is a real thing. The first amendment really does exist. The signers of the petition are being dishonest. They know people cannot be punished in our country for the things that they say. I'm not getting removed from office. They have no legal grounds at all. There really is a first amendment, he stated.

Whitfield said he only plans to resign if the Onslow County Board of Commissioners lowers the countys property tax rate, which is his goal.

My platform was to improve race relations and reduce the property tax rate by 3.5 cents. If Robin Knapp and the Board of Commissioners will reduce the property tax rate by 3.5 cents in June 2021 then I will resign at that time, he wrote in his statement . I don't expect that to happen but it is a solution that would be mutually beneficial to everyone involved. The GOP needs to work with Robin Knapp to pursue that avenue.

Al Burgess, a former president of the local NAACP chapter, has been the target of comments by Whitfield and said he is disappointed by Whitfields election to the board but not necessarily surprised with an 18,000 disparity in Onslow County between Republican and Democratic Party voters.

Burgess has been behind efforts to have the Confederate monument relocated from in front of the Onslow County Courthouse that have to-date seen resistance, with only one county commissioner on the all-Republican Board of Commissioners publicly supporting the move, which would require the boards support.

That monument was a referendum within itself on whether or not racism or a symbol of racism in Onslow County is still possible, Burgess said.

Kristin Greer, a parent with concerns about Whitfield serving on the Board of Education because of the comments hes made on social media, started a Recall Eric Whitfield page on Facebook to organize others who may have concerns.

Greer said they are still researching to see if there are any official steps that can be taken but regardless she and Everhart agree that it is important to show the communitys concerns.

We want to show the board members how we feel; we want to have a voice, Everhart said.

Reporter Jannette Pippin can be reached at 910-382-2557 or Jannette.Pippin@JDNews.com.

See the original post here:
Petition started to protest newly elected Whitfield service on Onslow school board - Jacksonville Daily News

by Dennis Crouch

Valeant Pharmaceuticals v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals (Fed. Cir. 2020)

Prior to TC Heartland, Federal Circuit precedent equated proper venue with personal jurisdiction finding venue proper in any court that had personal jurisdiction over the defendant. See28 U.S.C. 1391. In 2017, however, the Supreme Court gave renewed force to the text of28 U.S.C. 1400(b).

Any civil action for patent infringement may be brought [1] in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or [2] where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.

28 U.S.C. 1400(b). Youll see that I underlined where the defendant has committed acts of infringement in the quote above because Valeant focuses on the location-of-infringement.

Valeantis an innovator-generic ANDA case. ANDA lawsuits are peculiar because the statutory act-of-infringement is submitting an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to the FDA for a patented drug/use (along with a paragraph IV certification). 35 U.S.C. 271(e)(2)(A) (submit an application). Here, the court held that that the location-of-infringement for venue purposes is where actions related to the submission occur. The court further clarified that Section 271(e) infringement (for venue purposes) does not consider locations where future distribution of the generic products specified in the ANDA is contemplated.

On the facts here:

We do not have information about the course taken by the ANDA filing, but the most efficient route from WV to MD does not pass through NJ. (Note assumption regarding mail efficiency.) In any event, the district court concluded:defendant MPI submitted its ANDA application in West Virginia, to the FDA in Maryland. None of these actions occurred in New Jersey.On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed:

A plain language reading of this provision directs us to the conclusion that it is the submission of the ANDA, and only the submission, that constitutes an act of infringement in this context. Valeant makes several arguments as to why we should understand 271(e)(2) as encompassing more. None persuade us to reach a different conclusion.

Slip Op.

There has been some debate about the how to think about 271(e). It seems odd thatto petition the Government constitutes an act of infringement. (Quoting the First Amendment, U.S. Const.). Some courts have seen the provision as creating an artificial act of infringement to trigger resolution before the real-infringement occurs. You might see this as nunc-pro-tunc constructive infringement by virtue of submitting an ANDA for the purpose of engaging in that future infringing conduct. (quoting appellants brief); See alsoEli Lilly and Co. v. Medtronic, Inc., 496 U.S. 661 (1990) ( 271(e)(2) creates a highly artificial act of infringement).

On appeal, the Federal Circuit rejected the future-infringement theory and instead walked through a straight statutory read

The Hatch-Waxman Act speaks in real termssubmission of the ANDA is the infringing act. . . an ANDA submission is a real, albeit statutorily created, act of infringement.

Slip Op.

Although I have not developed this argument, the courts straight-read of the statute here places the provision on rocky First Amendment grounds regarding both speech and govt petitions. The court considered some of these issues in the personal-jurisdiction context in Zeneca Ltd. v. Mylan Pharm., Inc., 173 F.3d 829 (Fed. Cir. 1999)

In any event, MPI wins this round with a holding that venue is improper against MPI in New Jersey.

= = = =

Foreign Defendant: Mylan Laboratories Ltd. (MLL) is also a defendant in the lawsuit, MLL is an Indian corporation with a principal place of business in Hyderabad, India. If you remember, TC Heartland applied directly only to domestic corporations, and the district court held here that28 U.S.C. 1391(c)(3) allows the lawsuit in N.J. against the foreign corporation:

(3) a defendant not resident in the United States may be sued in any judicial district.

Id. However, the court went-ahead and dismissed the case against MLL on venue grounds. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed this holding. MLL also argued thatits case should be dismissed on R. 12(b)(6) for failure-to-state-a-claim. In particular, the complaint alleges that it was MPI who submitted the ANDA, not MLL. On appeal, the Federal Circuit punted on that issue and remanded to the district court to determine the issue.

Although venue is proper for MLL it probably isnt the most-convenient forum if the rest of the case is heading to W.V. In addition, MPI might be considered a necessary party who cannot be joined under FRCP R. 19 (Required Joinder of Parties). As such, I expect that the NJ case against MLL will be dismissed.

Read the original:
Petitioning the Government as an Act of Infringement - Patently-O

DOWNTOWN The citys emergency management agency is alerting residents to possible election night protests throughout the city. But so far, many activist groups have not signaled any plans to demonstrate.

Chicagos Office of Emergency Management and Communications alerted residents Tuesday afternoon of expected protest activity at six locations.

People should expect possible traffic disruptions and protests at Federal Plaza, Millennium Park, Hyde Park, Union Park, Wrigley Field and Palmer Square Park, according to the alerts.

City officials have been preparing for possible election-related protests, but most activist groups in the city have not announced plans for election night activity.

Organizers for some groups, including GoodKids MadCity, said they are not planning election night protests, although some are scheduled for Wednesday.

Despite that, some businesses have boarded up their windows and doors ahead of election results.

As polls closed Tuesday, city officials raised the Wabash Avenue bridge over the Chicago River to prevent access to Trump Tower. Police officials in tweets showed officers stationed throughout the city.

An OEMC spokesperson said in a statement there are a small number of demonstrations that we are aware of and officials are committed to protecting residents First Amendment Right to peacefully demonstrateand we are prepared to protect that right while keeping all residents and businesses safe.

Various city agencies met for a briefing on election night preparedness Tuesday, according to the emergency management agency.

Through Sunday, there will be more officers on patrol, the citys Office of Emergency Management and Communications will monitor any activity and crowds and the city has sent out garbage trucks and other large vehicles to protect business-heavy strips in the neighborhoods, the Mayors Office announced Friday.

RELATED: City Putting More Cops On Streets, Protecting Businesses Over Concerns About Election Day Unrest

Officials said they hope the measures can make people feel safer as they cast a ballot and await results during what is expected to be a tense week.

The citys efforts are focused on two issues, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday: election integrity and public safety.

Critics have expressed concern on social media over the plan, which largely mirrors what the city did over the summer, when there were large protests over police violence and when businesses were looted and vandalized. Protesters and officers routinely and, at times, violently clashed.

Lightfoot did not directly say officers wouldnt interfere in potential protests, but she said police will support people who are expressing their First Amendment rights though she repeatedly said Chicagoans should be peaceful.

I want to stress that while CPD is focused on crime prevention, our officers will continue to ensure residents expressing First Amendment rights are protected and given the support they need to stay safe, Lightfoot said.

Chicago: We have to be smart, safe and peaceful. No matter the outcomes of next Tuesdays elections, we all know that emotions will be high because they already are. I urged you to channel those emotions into peaceful and productive expressions.

Block Club Chicagos election coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make fundsreportingfrom Chicagos neighborhoods.

Already subscribe?Click hereto support Block Clubwith a tax-deductible donation.

Go here to read the rest:
City Warns Of Election Night Protests But Few In Works So Far - Block Club Chicago