On February 8, 2023, a Manhattan federal jury found an NFT artist liable for having infringed upon Hermès' popular Birkin brand, awarding Hermès $133,000 in total damages. This was one of the first trials involving trademark rights in the digital space of NFTs.
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Historic Hermès Jury Verdict Paves Way for Digital Trademark Rights Posted on: February 10, 2023 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
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Should NFTs Be Considered a Security? Posted on: August 31, 2022 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
If you had asked the author of this post 10 years ago whether he would believe that people would pay thousands upon thousands of dollars for what is essentially a PDF, he would have said you were speaking utter nonsense. However, here we stand, in an era where you cannot go a day without hearing about the latest NFT (non-fungible token) project or the next surefire “To The Moon” cryptocurrency. And, as is tradition, the more notoriety something gets, the more scrutiny it comes under.
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NFT-Related IP Litigation On The Rise Posted on: June 07, 2022 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
Not since the Y2K days has there been more buzz over a subject, i.e., NFTs and the Metaverse. Only time will tell if this trend is an exaggeration, or if we are on a “Don’t Stop Believin’” euphoric Journey that is here to stay.
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Complaint Itself Cannot Meet Knowledge Requirement For Indirect & Willfulness Claims, Says Delaware District Court Posted on: March 29, 2021 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
Judge Connolly of the Delaware District Court, which handled about 20% of all patent cases in 2020, recently ruled that a complaint for indirect infringement or enhanced damages fails to state a claim when the “defendant's alleged knowledge of the asserted patents is based solely on the content of that complaint or a prior version of the complaint filed in the same lawsuit.”
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Trade Secrets Litigation Just Got More Complicated Posted on: February 03, 2021 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
In January, federal courts around the country issued new security procedures intended to protect highly sensitive documents (HSDs), following a cybersecurity breach at an electronic filing system vendor. Now, HSDs must be filed in person or via mail and, once received by the court, will be stored in a secure stand-alone computer system. While the concept it straightforward, its implementation is far from simple, as the court orders vary widely and leave a lot of open questions.
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Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Recent Decision in Molson-Coors v. Anheuser-Busch Affirms Lesson: Choose Words Wisely Posted on: May 29, 2020 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
In Molson-Coors Beverage Company v. Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the age old lesson of choosing your words wisely. The entire litigation arose out of Molson-Coors themselves listing ‘corn syrup’ as an ingredient in both their Miller Light and Coors light beers.
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Supreme Court Holds PTAB Decisions Concerning One-Year Time Bar to File IPR Are Not Judicially Reviewable Posted on: May 11, 2020 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
In Thryv, Inc. v. Click-to-Call Technologies, LP, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, holding that 35 U.S.C. §314(d) precludes judicial review of Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) application of the one-year time bar in a decision to institute an inter partes review (IPR).
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Trademark Lawsuits Used to Stop Exploitative Pricing Markup of Protective COVID-19 N95 Masks Posted on: April 29, 2020 In: COVID-19 Response, Intellectual Property & Technology
At a time when the world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and the critical need for personal protective equipment, intellectual property owners have brought trademark infringement lawsuits to stop pandemic profiteers from price-gouging and engaging in other misleading tactics. These lawsuits demonstrate the power that intellectual property law has to protect valuable brands and stomp out outrageous conduct.
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Federal Circuit Rules That a Jury Must Determine Visual Similarity Between Design Patent and Prior Art as Part of Obviousness Analysis Posted on: April 22, 2020 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
The Federal Circuit issued a precedent-setting ruling that clarifies the appropriate roles of judges and juries when a design patent is challenged as obvious. In doing so, the Court strengthened designers’ rights by confirming that, in certain situations, the question of whether a design patent and the prior art are visually the same should be sent to a jury rather than determined by a judge at the summary judgment phase of litigation.
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Who May Petition for Post-Grant Review Under The AIA? Posted on: April 20, 2020 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
Under the America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA), any “person” other than the patent owner may challenge the patent owner’s patent(s) through post-grant review before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The patent statutes do not specifically define the term “person.” The presumption is that the term “person” does not include the federal government and its agencies.
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Smooth Sailing for States to Infringe Copyrights Posted on: April 02, 2020 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled 9-0 that a 1990 law intended to provide a means of redress against States that commit copyright infringement is unconstitutional as written, and that sovereign immunity shields States from being held liable for copyright infringement. Though most copyright owners do not have to worry about States infringing their works, the facts of the case offer an important insight that all owners of any IP should note.
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New York Judge Holds Additional Clinical Trial Results Must Be Reported to Public FDA Database Posted on: March 31, 2020 In: Intellectual Property & Technology
A district court in New York has ruled that drug and clinical trial sponsors cannot avoid their obligation to submit “basic results” about the outcome of trials for approved products between September 27, 2007, when a statute requiring publication of this information on ClinicalTrials.gov went into effect, and January 18, 2017, when regulations finally went into effect to implement the statute.
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