JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, September 29, 2012

[JURIST] Canadian citizen Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive] was transferred to Canada [Public Safety Canada statement; DOD press release] from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] early Saturday morning to serve out the rest of his prison sentence under the authority of the Correctional Service of Canada [official website]. Khadr pleaded guilty to murdering US Sergeant First Class Christoper Speer, an Army medic, as well as charges of conspiracy and spying, material support of a terrorist group and attempted murder. He was originally sentenced to eight years [JURIST report] in 2010 on top of the eight years he had already spent in prison. The rest of his sentence and future parole hearings, however, will now be handled by Canadian authorities according to Canadian law.

The US delivered Khadr's papers [JURIST report] to Canada earlier this month while it was considering the possibility of transferring him. UN officials called for the transfer of Khadr in July after his lawyers renewed his transfer request [JURIST reports] the previous month. He made a formal request [JURIST report] to the Canadian government in April after being approved for transfer by the US government. He made a claim in 2010 that his confession to charges against him was a byproduct of torture, but those claims were rejected [JURIST report] by a military judge. Khadr, 26, was the youngest prisoner to be held at Guantanamo Bay.

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court of the District of Columbia [official website] on Friday remanded [opinion, PDF] a rule [text] that would have limited positions on derivatives for 28 commodities, saying that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) [official website] must resolve ambiguities to determine if it has authority to make the rule. The rule, promulgated by the CFTC last year pursuant to its claimed authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act [text, PDF], would have capped the number of derivatives contracts traders could have to buy or sell certain commodities during certain time periods. The covered commodities included agricultural products, energy and metals. Several Wall Street groups filed a suit [JURIST report] challenging the rule in December. The court found that there are "fundamental concerns ... about the ambiguities in the statute," and when this happens it is required to remand the rule to the agency to "bring its experience and expertise" and resolve the ambiguities. Once the agency has interpreted the statute, as long as the court finds that its reasoning and interpretation is not "clearly erroneous," the rule will be upheld. The court denied a request from the CFTC to allow the rule to go into effect while it is being remanded, saying that would be more harmful than helpful.

The Dodd-Frank Act was passed in 2010 [JURIST report] as a response to the 2008 economic recession [JURIST news archive]. In 2009 the CFTC announced plans [JURIST report] to take action in curbing excessive speculation in energy commodities markets. CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler [official profile] was confirmed in May of that year after being appointed by President Barack Obama.

[JURIST] Mexico's Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Spanish] expressed initial approval Friday for a labor reform bill that seeks to improve the transparency of Mexico's trade unions and make labor regulations more flexible. The bill was a bipartisan effort between the conservative outgoing National Action Party (PAN) and the more liberal incoming Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) [party websites, in Spanish]. The bill streamlines labor disputes [Reuters report] and makes it easier for employers to hire and fire workers. Legislators stripped the bill of some anti-union measures including a provision that would mandate that union members receive information on how their organization's money is spent and a section that would make the election of union membership secret and direct. If the Chamber of Deputies formally approves the labor reform bill, it will go to the Mexican Senate [official website, in Spanish], which will have 30 days to pass or reject it.

Earlier this month outgoing President Felipe Calderon [official website, in Spanish] introduced the labor reform bill [JURIST report]. The bill was introduced [Reuters report] in the Congress of Mexico by Interior Minister Alejandro Poires. Lawmakers from both the PAN and PRI have shown support for the legislation. Incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto [campaign website] of the Institutional Revolutionary Party has pledged to back the legislation. Calderon is seeking to fast track the legislation before he leaves office in November.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] ruled [order, PDF] Friday that the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] should reconsider an injunction [order, PDF] against Samsung in a patent dispute with Apple [corporate websites]. District Judge Lucy Koh issued the injunction in June against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 [product backgrounder] and declared [Reuters report] that she could not lift the injunction because Samsung had already appealed. On appeal, the Federal Circuit granted Samsung's motion to remand the question of whether the injunction should be lifted:

We grant the motion and remand for the purpose of allowing the trial court to consider Samsung's motion and Apple's arguments in opposition thereto. The appeal is held in abeyance pending further ruling from the trial court. ... In granting the motion, the Federal Circuit takes no position on the proceedings the trial court should employ in considering the motion to dissolve the preliminary injunction or on the merits of the motion.

It is unclear when Koh will issue a new ruling.

Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in continuous patent litigation in courts around the world. Last week Apple filed a motion [JURIST report] with the US District Court for the Northern District of California to prohibit Samsung from selling products in the US that supposedly infringe on Apple's patents. Two weeks ago Samsung announced [JURIST report] that it will be adding the iPhone5 [product backgrounder] to a new patent infringement suit against Apple. Last week a judge for the US International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that Apple products do not infringe on Samsung's patents. In August Apple won a $1.05 billion judgment [JURIST report] against Samsung in a separate case [case materials] in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit covered everything from the shape and design of the competing companies' tablets and smartphones to the technology employed in the devices' software interface. Following the jury award Apple moved to block [JURIST report] eight Samsung products from being produced and sold in the US. Last month a South Korean court found that Apple and Samsung had violated each others' patents [JURIST report] and banned the sales of some of the companies' products in the country. In July a UK court ruled [JURIST report] that Samsung tablets do not infringe on Apple's design.