The national law firm of Quarles & Brady achieved an important victory for its client, Munchkin, Inc., in a lengthy patent infringement battle between Munchkin and its direct competitor concerning Munchkin’s Twist-Tight™ children’s drinking cups. Quarles had earlier achieved a victory of non-infringement on summary judgment in the Western District of Wisconsin, and then successfully defended that victory from a motion for reconsideration and again on appeal. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decision that Munchkin’s Twist-Tight™ cups do not infringe a patent held by competitor Learning Curve, Inc. Munchkin was represented in the District Court and on appeal by Quarles & Brady attorneys Josephine K. Benkers and Martha J. Snyder.

A group of well-known St. Louis attorneys will join Polsinelli Shughart’s St. Louis office on May 1. The attorneys include Alan S. Breckenridge, Thomas J. Campbell, Ruben K. Chuquimia, Thomas P. Hohenstein, Bradley G. Kafka, and Sanford S. Neuman, all highly respected in the St. Louis business and legal communities. The St Louis addition includes five shareholders and nine other attorneys.

Bennett Jones is pleased to announce that Jay Fortin has joined the firm in the Middle East as a partner in our Doha office.

Davis Polk advised Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated as joint book-running managers in connection with the $264 million initial public offering of 15,525,000 shares of common stock of Splunk, Inc., including 2,025,000 shares from the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. Of these shares, Splunk offered 14,532,278 shares and the selling stockholders offered 992,722 shares. The common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “SPLK.”

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, announces the addition of Martha Anderson Hartley and Zachary J. Bancroft to the Firm’s Orlando office.

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP today announced that it successfully represented H.I.G. Growth Partners and its newly formed portfolio company, Community Intervention Services, Inc, (CIS), in the acquisition by CIS of Massachusetts-based South Bay Mental Health Center, Inc. The McDermott team also advised on the financing of the deal, which included both senior secured term and revolving credit facilities from multiple sources.

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Actavis Group have jointly announced that Watson has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Actavis for an upfront payment of EUR4.25 billion. Actavis has operations in more than 40 countries and presently has a portfolio which includes more than 1,000 medicines present on the market and registered in more than 70 countries.  As a result of the transaction, Watson will become the third largest global generics company, with 2012 anticipated pro forma revenue of approximately US$8 billion. The acquisition will be subject to customary conditions in and outside of the United States, and Watson anticipates closing the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2012.