Latest "Intellectual Property & Technology" Category Blog Posts

• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: November 05, 2019 Title: Cleaning Up With Trade Secrets Under California’s Right to Know Act
  Summary: Companies who make cleaning products sold in California should take note of a new law coming into effect on January 1, 2020, especially if their products are made from proprietary formulas or include ingredient mixtures that may qualify as company trade secrets....
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: October 29, 2019 Title: Players v. Haters: Ninth Circuit Says Creativity a Matter of Fact in Taylor Swift Copyright Suit
  Summary: Taylor Swift fans might need to calm down after yesterday’s decision out of the Ninth Circuit. In 2017, two songwriters sued Taylor Swift over the chorus of her hit song “Shake It Off,” alleging her song infringed the copyrighted lyrics in their song “Playas Gon’ Play,” released in 2001....
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: October 17, 2019 Title: I Can’t Get Sued for Posting a Picture of Myself on Social Media… Can I?
  Summary: The rise of social media has presented the courts with a seemingly never ending slew of counterintuitive, but probably valid claims. For example, the pop star Justin Bieber recently posted an image on his social media of himself and a friend in the backseat of a car. The photo, of course, was taken by a paparazzo undoubtedly lying in wait for just the right opportunity to snap the angst-ridden star. The photographer has now filed suit for copyright infringement against Mr. Bieber....
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: June 28, 2019 Title: Supreme Court Agrees to Review Appealability of PTAB Time-Bar Rulings
  Summary: On June 24, 2019, the United States Supreme Court agreed to review the question of whether 35 U.S.C. § 314(d) permits appeal of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision to institute an inter partes review (IPR) upon finding that 35 U.S.C. § 315(b)’s 1-year time bar to file an IPR does not apply. ...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: June 28, 2019 Title: Supreme Court Declines to Hear ReDigi First Sale Doctrine Case
  Summary: Despite the potentially important impact of the Second Circuit’s decision in Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc. on the digital music industry, the United States Supreme Court has denied ReDigi’s petition to review the Second Circuit’s refusal to apply the First Sale Doctrine to the transfer of digital music files. ...
• Blog: Intellectual Property & Technology
  Date: June 25, 2019 Title: SCOTUS: Free Speech Permits Registration of ‘Immoral or Scandalous’ Trademarks
  Summary: On June 24, 2019, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) had violated applicant Erick Brunetti’s First Amendment right to free speech by denying him federal registration of the mark “FUCT” for use in his clothing line. In Iancu v. Brunetti, the Court held the Lanham Act’s prohibition on the registration of trademarks that “consist of or comprise immoral or scandalous matter” as unconstitutional....
• 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....