A federal judge in California on Thursday dismissed all claims in the second of four patent infringement lawsuits filed by Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft Corp. . The case, which was scheduled to begin trial March 19, concerned speech recognition technology. The ruling, issued by US District Judge Rudi Brewster, will be appealed by Alcatel-Lucent.

Last Thursday, a federal jury in California awarded Alcatel-Lucent $1.52 billion in damages for violations of two of Alcatel-Lucent's digital music patents committed by Microsoft. Microsoft indicated it might appeal the verdict. Two additional patent suits between Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent are pending, with the next trial scheduled to begin May 21.

Belgium has become the first country to criminalize investment in companies that make cluster bombs. Legislation passed the Belgian Senate on Thursday, and the Parliament plans to publish a list of companies that manufacture cluster munitions. Belgian banks KBC and Fortis have already terminated their investments in such companies, and KBC has published its own list of manufacturers. The new law will prohibit Belgian banks from owning shares in cluster bomb manufacturers or offering them credit.

Last week, 46 countries pledged to develop a new international treaty to ban the use of cluster bombs by 2008 at the Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions. Last year, Belgium was the first country to ban cluster bombs. Although the US did not attend the Oslo conference, top Democratic lawmakers recently introduced a bill in the US Senate that would ban federal funds for the use, sale or transfer of cluster bombs. Cluster munitions, which have been used by at least 23 countries, are considered by many to be inaccurate weapons designed to spread damage indiscriminately and could therefore be considered illegal under multiple provisions of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions (1977).

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to the Securities and Exchange Commission last June without admitting or denying allegations made by the SEC that the corporation had failed to protect against potential misuse of insider trading information as required by law.

The Washington State Senate passed a domestic partnership bill (SB 5336) Thursday which would establish a domestic partner registry, giving same-sex couples enhanced rights including inheritance, hospital visitation, and the power to authorize medical procedures. The bill, sponsored by openly gay Sen. Ed Murray (D) passed by a vote of 28-19, defeating a proposed amendment by Senator Don Benton (R) that would have added a referendum clause. Benton and others who voted against the bill said it was an attempt to undermine traditional marriage. The bill now moves to the house as House Bill 1351. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign the measure if it passes.

Last year Washington passed a landmark gay civil rights act sponsored by Murray, which rewrote Washington's Civil Rights Act to include the phrase "sexual orientation" among the classes of people protected from discrimination in housing, lending, and employment. Last week the state determined that a heterosexual woman could not use that law to secure health care benefits for her male partner because a federal law on the topic trumps it.

Pentagon officials announced Thursday that David Hicks, an Australian detainee held in U.S. custody for more than five years, will face two counts of providing material support for terrorism, the first time anyone has been charged under the new U.S. law governing military trials for some foreign terrorism suspects.

The case against Hicks marks the first use of rules established by the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which was enacted last year when Republicans still controlled Congress and after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down earlier rules for the military trials.

With their party now in control of Congress, some Democrats have been outspoken about wanting to revamp the Military Commissions Act to provide suspects with more rights and eliminate the use of evidence obtained through coercion. Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., have introduced legislation that would restore rights of detainees such as Hicks to challenge their detentions via habeas corpus petitions, something a federal appeals court in Washington recently ruled were prohibited under current law.

The filing of charges also could prompt Hicks' attorneys to initiate a new legal challenge of the law. Defense attorneys for a group of foreign nationals held in the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- including Hicks -- have filed lawsuits that its provisions are unconstitutional, but recently lost at the appellate level.

The detainees' attorneys said they plan to file a petition Monday for an expedited hearing in the Supreme Court. Another Guantanamo detainee, Salim Hamdan, filed a petition with the Supreme Court this week alleging that the Military Commissions Act is unconstitutional.

Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, will return to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, the law firm said Thursday.

Mehlman, who was the RNC chairman for two years beginning in 2005, started his legal career in 1991 as an associate in Akin Gump's D.C. office, where he practiced for three years before entering politics.
 
In his new stint with the law firm, he will work with clients on legislative, regulatory, constituency, corporate and public relations matters at the state, federal and international levels.

"As a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I am delighted that Ken Mehlman ... will be back at Akin Gump," says Robert Strauss, the law firm's founder, in a statement. "We are a diversified and bipartisan firm, and Ken fits in perfectly."

Mehlman began his political career as legislative director to Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and later became chief of staff to Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas. From 2003 to 2004 he was campaign manager for George Bush and Dick Cheney as they won a second term.

Akin Gump has more than 900 attorneys in offices in the United States and worldwide

A disbarred lawyer indicted on charges of stealing about $750,000 from former clients pleaded not guilty at his arraignment yesterday.

Peter L. Schofield, 54, of 52 North St., Grafton, was arraigned in Worcester Superior Court on nine counts of larceny of more than $250, crimes he allegedly committed on various dates from Aug. 1, 2002, to March 13 of last year. He was indicted last month.

The Lithuanian War Veterans Organization alleges Mr. Schofield stole more than $500,000. 

Judge John S. McCann set bail of $5,000 cash, as requested by Assistant District Attorney Herbert F. Travers III, and continued Mr. Schofield’s case to March 20. Mr. Schofield’s lawyer, Sean R. Holland, did not object to the prosecutor’s bail request, and Mr. Schofield was released after posting the $5,000.

Mr. Schofield and Mr. Holland declined to comment on the charges after the arraignment.

Mr. Schofield, a real estate lawyer who was admitted to the bar in 1985, was disbarred May 25 based on a New York couple’s allegations that he stole more than $84,000 from them in the sale of property they owned in Grafton. Checks totaling $84,274 that Mr. Schofield sent from his trustee account to the husband and wife, Brian and Deborah Larsen, bounced, according to a Board of Bar Overseers’ summary of the allegations that led to Mr. Schofield’s disbarment.

The Larsens are listed as victims in two of the indictments against Mr. Schofield. The indictments were returned by a grand jury Feb. 16.

Another of his alleged victims is the Lithuanian War Veterans Organization Inc., which filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Schofield last year. The suit alleges that Mr. Schofield stole some of the proceeds from the $560,000 sale of the organization’s headquarters on South Quinsigamond Avenue in Shrewsbury to Adelphi Inc. of Shrewsbury, a branch of the Knights of Columbus.

The veterans group, which hired Mr. Schofield to complete the 2004 sale and resolve related legal matters, is seeking $600,000 in damages in its civil action.

The indictments list eight other alleged larceny victims, all former clients of Mr. Schofield.