Latest "Intellectual Property & Technology" Category Blog Posts

• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: June 06, 2019 Title: Claims with Precise Numerical Values - A Cautionary Tale
  Summary: On March 31, 2019, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Cobalt Boats, LLC v. Brunswick Corporation reversed a finding of infringement and vacated a $7.9 million award (inclusive of $2.5 million in attorneys’ fees) previously granted by the Eastern District of Virginia. Cobalt accused Brunswick of infringing their U.S. Patent No. 8,375,880 (the ‘880 patent) directed to a Retractable Step for Boat Swim Platform, issued February 19, 2013. ...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: June 03, 2019 Title: Privilege Review Presents Unique Challenges In Intellectual Property Cases
  Summary: Intellectual property (IP) litigation typically requires review and production of large volumes of documents and electronically stored information (ESI). The evolution of ESI has greatly multiplied the number of documents and the coincident broadening of the attorney-client, work product, joint defense, and other privileges has made it much more difficult to identify and remove all privileged documents from production, even after the introduction of rules designed to lessen the burden presented by large ESI...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: May 20, 2019 Title: Supreme Court Issues Major Ruling on the Ongoing Viability of Trademark Licenses by Bankrupt Entities
  Summary: At issue in Mission Product Holding v. Tempnology, LLC, was whether a licensee whose license agreement was "rejected" by the bankrupt debtor licensor was permitted to continue using the trademark that was the subject of the license. The debtor/licensor wanted the licensee to cease ongoing usage of the mark and cited to the bankruptcy law's tool of rejection as the basis for doing so. However, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the proposition that the licensee had to cease usage....
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: May 17, 2019 Title: What Wearable Tech Could Mean for Sports as “Hot News”: A Lesson from the Alliance of American Football
  Summary: On April 2, 2019, in the middle of its inaugural season, the nascent Alliance of American Football (AAF) ceased all operations. Within weeks the AAF filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving in its wake new technologies that might one day reshape the world of professional sports....
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: April 25, 2019 Title: Patent Litigation Trends in the Wake of TC Heartland
  Summary: In May 2017, the Supreme Court issued TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands, a decision that many expected would significantly limit forum shopping in patent cases. Prior to that case, patentees could file infringement lawsuits in any court with personal jurisdiction over the accused infringer, so most corporations were subject to suit in every district court. ...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: March 21, 2019 Title: The Ongoing Evolution Of Patent Venue
  Summary: A refresher and update on the ongoing evolution of what constitutes proper venue in a patent case. For over 20 years, venue in a patent case was proper in essentially any court in the United States. That all changed in May 2017 when the Supreme Court held in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Food Grp. Brands, LLC that 28 U.S.C. §1400(b) is the sole and exclusive venue provision for patent infringement actions, and cannot be supplemented by the general venue statute at 28 U.S.C. §1391....
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: March 14, 2019 Title: ‘Full Moon’ Costs Denied by Supreme Court in Oracle Copyright Case
  Summary: On March 4, 2019, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision overturning the Ninth Circuit Court's award of $12.8 million in costs in the copyright infringement matter Rimini Street, Inc. et al v. Oracle USA, Inc. et al. Newly confirmed Justice Kavanaugh penned the opinion for the Court, holding that the Ninth Circuit's expanded view of "full costs" set forth in 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920 and 1821 was improper, going beyond the "costs" typically available to copyright litigants...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: March 07, 2019 Title: USPTO Supports “Counterintuitive” Interpretation of AIA in Amicus Brief to Fed Circuit Court of Appeals
  Summary: Oral Arguments Scheduled for Next Week - In a curious legal scenario, the USPTO recently filed an amicus brief at the request of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, supporting a “counterintuitive” reading of the American Invents Act (AIA). This stems from an interesting argument made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary company Janssen Oncology, Inc. regarding estoppel under the AIA. ...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: March 04, 2019 Title: Supreme Court Concludes That Copyright Registration Is A Prerequisite To Filing Copyright Lawsuit
  Summary: In a decision that did not surprise many, the United State Supreme Court held unanimously that indeed, the Copyright Act means what is says, namely, “no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United State work shall be instituted until… registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.” ...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: February 04, 2019 Title: PTAB Denies Post-Grant Review Request That Relied on Social Media Evidence
  Summary: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently denied a request for a post-grant review of a design patent that relied on evidence from social media, casting doubt on the ability to use such evidence when attempting to invalidate patents....