On Sept. 26, 2014, the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in American Calcar, Inc. v. American Honda Motor Co. Judges Prost and Wallach affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California that three American Calcar patents were unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. Judge Newman filed a strongly worded dissent.
The New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, decided that a copyright renewal that Duke Ellington signed in 1961 didn't unfairly deprive his heirs of a portion of foreign royalties on the music giant's works, such as "Mood Indigo" and "Sophisticated Lady."
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows employees to sue their employers for various employment-related causes of action. Courts in two recent cases have ruled that actions brought, pursuant to the FLSA, by franchisees and franchisee employees, sufficiently alleged that franchisors were "employers" to withstand motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
Ever wonder what happens to your social media accounts, e-mail, online texts and other digital content when you die? Do they simply expire, leaving nothing behind but digital dust? Or can you authorize someone to take them over after you pass on? And if so, what powers would such a person possess?
Federal Circuit Defines "By Means Of"
Doctrine of Claim Differentiation Insufficient to Overcome Plain Meaning of Claim Term
Patentee's Failure to Connect the Dots Insufficient, But Not Sanction-Worthy
TexasBarCLE 24th Annual Entertainment Law Institute
California Right of Publicity Claims Can Be Assigned
Invasion of Privacy Suit Against Greenberg Glusker Law Firm Found Time-Barred
Whither the Transformative Use Defense in Copyright Infringement Cases?
It's well established that the number of lawsuits filed by patent trolls in the last decade has increased dramatically. This increase comes at considerable expense to defendants of all stripes. But as widely reviled as this trend may be among operating companies that often find themselves as defendants in patent troll litigation, legislation that would curb this practice has made little progress.
Federal Circuit Applies Alice to Invalidate Online Transaction Patent
Federal Circuit Finds 'Unobtrusive' and 'Does Not Distract' Indefinite
Federal Circuit: In Hatch-Waxman, Infringement Based Only on Final ANDA Product
In the first half of 2014, at least 96 significant data breaches were reported, compromising more than 2.2 million records. Of these breaches, at least 46 involved records that may have contained Social Security Numbers (SSNs). What the affected businesses may not know is that the mere collection of SSNs may have put them in violation of state laws, in addition to the liability they may now face for having failed to protect the SSN information.
