Leas: Entergy’s position inconsistent with Supreme Court decision

http://vtdigger.org/2011/05/08/leas-entergys-position-inconsistent-with-supreme-court-decision/

Leas: Entergy’s position inconsistent with Supreme Court decision
May 8, 2011

Editor’s note: This op-ed is by James Marc Leas, a patent lawyer in private practice in South Burlington. He served as a staff physicist for the Union of Concerned Scientists in the aftermath of the accident at Three Mile Island. This is the third in a series of commentaries about Entergy’s case against Vermont Yankee. Read the first commentary. Read the second commentary.

Preemption

Entergy’s complaint states:



Entergy provides no authority for this assertion.

However, in a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court addressed the preemption issue in a 1983 case affirming that “the Atomic Energy Act constituted authorization for States to regulate nuclear power plants for purposes other than protection against radiation hazards.” The Supreme Court held:



Entergy’s position is inconsistent with this unanimous Supreme Court decision.

Bad Acts

Entergy’s bad acts include ...

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Laches and Acquiescence

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Conclusion

Entergy’s lawsuit is entirely without factual or legal basis. Its arguments are about as leak-tight as its tritium-spewing Vernon nuclear plant. Its public relations campaign is as honest as its testimony to the Public Service Board about the existence of underground piping. The strongest element in Entergy’s case is that it is a multi-billion dollar corporation, and the courts have been carving out inordinate rights for corporations that demolish the rights of ordinary people. But we the people of Vermont can counter even this unfair advantage using the methods handed down to us by those who founded this state and this country and those who helped expand democracy and equal rights: pulling together, building a visible grassroots campaign, and using our unlimited resource of love, compassion, faith, and courage to demand that the court dismiss Entergy’s bogus law suit and to support the excellent legal work we expect from the attorneys defending our state in the Vermont Attorney General’s office.

http://www.vermontpatentlawyer.com/profile.htm

Attorney Profile

James was an engineer and a prolific inventor in IBM's Microelectronics Division for more than 10 years before beginning his patent law practice. In January, 1993 he transferred from engineering to IBM's intellectual property law department and worked as an in-house IBM patent agent for almost 9 years. He opened his own outside patent law practice in November, 2000 while continuing to work for IBM in-house part-time. On September 1, 2001 he left IBM to pursue his own practice as a patent attorney full time.

James wrote or prosecuted well over one hundred patent applications for IBM. He also wrote the claims for many hundreds of others that were sent to outside counsel. He served on IBM boards with technical experts to review invention disclosures with inventors and decide which to patent. He developed skill at picking inventions with substantial commercial value. He also developed excellent skills at writing broad claims for a patent search and then for patent applications. Working with seven in-house IBM patent attorneys at the Burlington IBM site--one of the largest semiconductor fabrication plants in the world--James honed patent law skills and developed good working relationships with IBM inventors.

James graduated from MIT with a B.S. in biology. He earned an M.S. in physics and completed all requirements toward the PhD in physics except the dissertation from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. James was admitted to the patent bar as a patent agent in 1990. He read for the Vermont bar while working in IBM's Intellectual Property Law Department and was admitted as a Vermont attorney and as a patent attorney in 1998.

James has many publications on technical and non-technical topics and holds 39 patents in his own name as an inventor. James' broad technological skills and excellent writing skills permit him to draft high quality patent applications including commercially valuable claims.