Cadwalader produces several blogs and newsletters to update and to help our clients and friends understand trends and legal developments in various areas of the law:

• Energy & Commodities Resources Center provides access to important information regarding the regulatory, business and legal issues affecting the U.S. and international energy and commodities markets.
• One World International discusses judicial and regulatory decisions impacting strategy and tactics in international practice.
• Restructuring Review covers hot topics in bankruptcy and insolvency of interest to all stakeholders in distressed situations, including lenders, borrowers and investors.
• Business Fraud Advisor covers developments in criminal and civil enforcement of anti-fraud statutes.
• FCPA Advisor covers developments in criminal and civil enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• IP Insight covers recent Intellectual Property caselaw and developments of interest.

To be added to the distribution list for any of these communications, please contact us at cwtinfo@cwt.com and provide us with your name, company or organization, email address and titles in which you are interested.

On April 9, 2013, the European Union agreed to a preliminary deal requiring oil, gas, mining and forestry companies to report in greater detail any payments at or above €100,000 (approximately $130,000) they make to foreign governments. This disclosure requirement has been incorporated in the proposals to revise the EU Accounting Directives and the Transparency Directive. The new legislation, which must be formally adopted by member states and the European Parliament, is a result of negotiations between the European Commission and the European Parliament regarding a European Commission legislative proposal adopted on October 25, 2011.

On December 17, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that Allianz SE ("Allianz"), a German-based insurance and asset management company, had agreed to pay approximately $12.3 million to settle allegations that it violated the books and records and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). Although the Allianz settlement does not represent one of the largest settlements in the history of FCPA enforcement, it is a noteworthy case in that it highlights the increasingly important role of whistleblowers in FCPA investigations as well as the SEC's practice of seeking disgorgement for books and records violations without showing that the profits were earned as a result of the charged misconduct.

Assoc. Molec. Pathol. v. USPTO, Myriad Genetics et al., 10-1406 (Fed. Cir., July 29, 2011)

In a decision long awaited by the biotechnology industry, the Federal Circuit has held that claims to isolated DNA are patent-eligible subject matter under 35 USC §101 as compositions of matter that do not occur in nature, reversing the lower court ruling.  Assoc. Molec. Pathol. v. USPTO (Myriad Genetics), 10-1406 (Fed. Cir. July 29, 2011).  The asserted composition claims are directed to isolated DNA related to the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.  Mutations or alterations in the BRCA genes have been found to be associated with particular types of breast cancer, and the characterization and isolation of the genes was critical in developing diagnostic screens for cancer and potential therapeutic products.