U.S. takes steps to bolster patent system, cut frivolous lawsuits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House announced steps on Thursday designed to reduce frivolous patent lawsuits by trying to make it easier to identify who owns patents and by updating review processes to ensure that fewer weak patents are granted.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author, museum settle lawsuit over book
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) – A federal lawsuit that pitted “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee against the Alabama museum she accused of illegally profiting from her Pulitzer prize-winning book has been dismissed after the two sides reached a …
Father of suspected Craigslist killer calls daughter a liar
(Reuters) – The father of a woman charged with murdering a man she lured via the Craigslist classified ad website has described his daughter as a manipulative liar and said he could accept her execution if a jury deems it just, a Pennsylvania newspaper…
Fire in chemical storage shed forces evacuation of Iowa town
(Reuters) – A fire in a storage shed for sulfuric acid forced the evacuation of an entire northern Iowa town of about 2,000 people Thursday, officials said.
Bones examined from Chevron fire site in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania coroner was attempting on Thursday to extract DNA from bone fragments thought to belong to a contractor who was working at a Chevron natural gas well when it exploded in Greene County last week.
Killer avalanches hit U.S. West as fresh snow raises backcountry allure
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – Fresh powder in the U.S. West has lured thousands of skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers to the high country at a time the risk of avalanches has been heightened by weather patterns that are making the snowpack less stable, …
Exclusive: BNSF to take bids to buy up to 5,000 safer oil railcars
HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – BNSF Railway Co plans to buy its own fleet of up to 5,000 new crude oil tank cars with safety features that exceed the latest industry standards, the company, a unit of investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said…
Jury selection begins in NY trial of Kerry Kennedy on driving charge
(Reuters) – Jury selection began on Thursday in the trial of Kerry Kennedy, daughter of assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was charged in 2012 after swerving her car into a tractor trailer and …
E-cig industry on tenterhooks ahead of U.S. regulation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lobbyists for electronic cigarette companies have been beating a path to the White House, hoping to prevent the administration from imposing strict, and possibly costly, rules on the burgeoning $2 billion industry.
Obama, Harper bet cases of beer on U.S.-Canada Olympic hockey games
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have put both national pride and cases of beer on the line in a friendly wager on the Canada-U.S. Olympic hockey matches.
