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The Intellectual Property Strategist
What’s Your Trademark Worth? Determining the Value of Trademarks For Collateral, Sale or Licensing
Stacey C. Kalamaras and Henry Kaskov
This article explores the options available to a client to value its trademarks during a financial crisis, to ensure one of the most valuable assets it owns can continue to work for the company and see it through the lean times.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Damages In Trademark Infringement Litigations
Mark A. Salky and Jessica Johnson Fishfeld
During a time when online marketing, virtual shopping and electronic communication are more widely used than ever, it is critically important for entertainment industry businesses to be highly aware of how they are using trademarks, the scope of a trademark owner’s rights and the consequences of infringing them.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The Russian Vodka Saga
Jared Looper
Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport v. Spirits International BV
What do the fall of the Soviet Union, a heist of trademark rights, and Stolichnaya vodka have in common? They are all key components of the Russian Federation’s efforts to reclaim its trademarks in Stolichnaya vodka.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Which Method Is for You? Not All Surveys Are Made the Same
Laura O’Laughlin, Harriet Ho and Duy (Joey) Duong
As survey evidence has become increasingly common in litigation, it is important to remember that not all surveys are made the same. It’s important to be able to identify the right survey methodology for the matter at hand. Third in a series
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and Abhishek Bapna
Federal Circuit: ITC Did Not Err in Denying Non-Respondent’s Petition to Rescind Exclusion Order Based on Invalidity Grounds
Federal Circuit: District Court Did Not Err in Ruling that ‘Half-Liquid’ Is Indefinite
Federal Circuit: District Court Did Not Err In Allowing Jury to Determine Infringement Based on Products’ Compliance with Standard
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
What’s in a Name? Booking.com and Consumer Perception Evidence
David H. Bernstein and Jared I. Kagan
In the first case in U.S. Supreme Court history argued by telephone, the Court ruled 8-1 in favor of Booking.com, holding that it could register as a trademark its eponymous domain name BOOKING.COM.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
States Win Some and Lose Some on Copyright Front at Supreme Court This Term
Jason Bloom
The Supreme Court decided two copyright cases this term, both involving states. This article discusses the cases and their likely impact on copyright law going forward.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Weighing the Benefits: How Much Weight Will Your Survey Have in Court?
Rene Befurt, Marie Warchol and Anthony Nasr
As consumer surveys become increasingly common forms of evidence in matters involving copyright, patent or trademark infringement, so too do Daubert challenges that attempt to disqualify that evidence. However, getting admitted into court is no guarantee of success — you are not over the entire Daubert hurdle just yet. The next step is ensuring that your survey is convincing the fact finders that your survey’s results are dependable and useful.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Shaleen Patel
Federal Circuit: Faulty Claim Construction Does Not End Patentability Determination
Federal Circuit: Notice to Market Bio Product Not Negated By New Applications
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
What You Need to Know About the USPTO’s Proposed Rule Changes to PTAB Trials
Kerry S. Taylor and Nathanael R. Luman
On May 27, 2020 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) proposed rule changes to govern inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), and covered business method (CBM) review proceedings at the PTAB. This article provides a summary of each proposed rule change and its potential impact on PTAB practice.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Statute of Limitations In Copyright Ownership Disputes: Questions from the Everly Brothers Case
J. Alexander Lawrence
Don and Phil Everly’s flawless harmonies that resulted in a string of hits in the 1950s and '60s regrettably ended in acrimony. The Sixth Circuit recently issued a decision in a dispute between Phil’s heirs and Don over copyright ownership of the No. 1 hit “Cathy’s Clown,” in which concurring Judge Eric E. Murphy raised important questions about when the statute of limitations should begin to run in copyright cases and whether courts have been correctly applying the law.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Survey Says: Tips on Getting Over the Daubert Hurdle
Rebecca Kirk Fair, Peter Hess and Vendela Fehrm
Surveys can provide useful evidence in litigation if they are conducted by a qualified expert employing reliable methods that survive a Daubert challenge. In the first of a series of articles drawing on our review of over 300 U.S. court rulings in cases involving surveys, including over 150 Daubert motions, we provide some suggestions for getting survey evidence admitted for consideration in court.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Recent Court Views on “Making Available” Controversy In Copyright Infringement
Stan Soocher
Federal courts have long disagreed over whether the unauthorized “making available” of a plaintiff’s works to the public is sufficient to constitute copyright infringement under the U.S. Copyright Act. Two June District Court decisions demonstrated the differences between the views of the Fourth and Ninth Circuits.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and Zhiqiang Liu
Federal Circuit Finds Preamble Not Limiting and Claims Reciting Means-Plus-Function Limitations Without Disclosure of Corresponding Structures Cannot Be Determined Unpatentable as Indefinite in an IPR Proceeding
Federal Circuit Finds That District Court Correctly Applied the Disclosure-Dedication Doctrine In Granting a Motion for Judgment of Non-Infringement on the Pleadings
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Eliminating Willfulness as a Prerequisite to Recovering an Infringer’s Damages in Dilution Cases
Sarah Benowich
Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc.
The Supreme Court, settling a circuit split, held that, although highly important, willfulness is not a prerequisite for a trademark infringement plaintiff to obtain a profits award.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects ‘Defense Preclusion’ in Trademark Suit
Anthony J. Dreyer
On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a circuit split, finding that any preclusion of litigation defenses must comply with traditional res judicata principles, and ruling that Lucky Brand was not precluded from asserting its defenses in its long-standing trademark litigation against Marcel Fashions Group
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright: Ownership and Fair Use
Shaleen J. Patel and Sushmitha Rajeevan
Machine learning allows certain AI to create entirely new content based upon the materials it used to learn. In the process of creating new content, AI may create copies of copyrighted works in memory storage as a byproduct of its overall output sequence. This article explores authorship and ownership of such AI-generated content, and to what extent, if any, can copyrights be infringed upon when AI reproduces copyrighted works for machine learning.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
You’ve Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It – Binding Settlement Agreement Defeats A Post-Settlement Judgment
Rudy Kim and Chris Han
Holding that the parties’ executed agreement mooted the issues in the case, the Federal Circuit recently reversed a district court’s decision to grant summary judgment of non-infringement despite the parties’ agreement. The decision builds upon prior Federal Circuit case law giving effect to settlement agreements.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Shaleen Patel
Article III Inter Partes Review Decision Precluded By Congress, SCOTUS Rules
SDNY: Video Game Makers Not Violating Copyright with NBA Player Tattoos
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Supreme Court Rules States Cannot Be Involuntarily Liable for Copyright Infringement
Shaleen J. Patel
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that individual states are free to commit copyright infringement. The Court held that Congress attempted to abrogate states’ sovereign immunity in an unconstitutional manner when enacting the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (CRCA).
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Practical Tips for Securing Patent Rights for AI-Generated Inventions
Gunjan Agarwal
While AI is rising as a key commercial player at the global scale with an expected market size of almost $400 billion by 2025, are patent laws around the world equipped to incentivize this revolution?
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Avoiding Trade Secret Losses During Corporate Collaboration
Felix Eyzaguirre and Katherine D. Prescott
Effective corporate collaborations — whether close customer relationships, supplier partnerships or formal joint ventures — demand that sensitive information be shared. Without proper agreements and well-defined boundaries, however, those corporate collaborations can lead to loss of trade secret protection and entangle the parties in litigation.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and Matthew Weiss
Federal Circuit: Method of Preparation Claim is Patentable
Federal Circuit: Same Party Cannot Join IPR Petitions under 35 U.S.C. §315(c)
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Attorney’s Fees After Octane: More Chances for Defendants to Even the Playing Field
Rudy Y. Kim
With fewer restraints after Octane, district courts now have broader discretion to grant motions for attorney’s fees. But understanding the circumstances under which exceptionality has been found is critical. Recent decisions by the Federal Circuit post-Octane provide some important guidance on when attorney’s fees may be available under Section 285.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Swedish Music Industry Views: Part Two
Stan Soocher
Part Two of a Two Part Article
This article discusses, among other things, the Swedish music industry perspective on the European Union’s Copyright Directive, the growth of multi-country music licensing hubs and the impact of Brexit.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Kozinski Angle In 9th Circuit’s Led Zeppelin Ruling
Scott Graham
Defendants Led Zeppelin and its music labels were the winners in the copyright decision by the Ninth Circuit over the song “Stairway to Heaven.” But the estate of songwriter Randy Wolfe (p/k/a California) wasn’t the only one who got the short end. Among the collateral damage from the ruling was a 2002 precedent written by former Chief Judge Alex Kozinski that endorsed the so-called “inverse-ratio” rule.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Shaleen J. Patel
VARA Lives On: A $6.75M Lesson on Respecting Moral Rights
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
You Know What It Is: Taco Tuesday and the Failure-to-Function Doctrine In Trademark Law
Brandon Leahy
The foundational requirement that a trademark function as a trademark has received little attention in the case law. More recently, however, there has been an apparent uptick in scrutiny of trademark use by the USPTO and TTAB, as well as fresh academic attention paid to the issue.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Swedish Music Industry Views as European Union Countries Work on Drafting Home Laws for Enacting EU Copyright Directive
Stan Soocher
This article is Part One of a two-part article
This article examines the Copyright Directive and music-industry structure issues through the lens of Sweden, which has both a robust music business and a strong technology sector, two divergent perspectives in the development of the directive.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg
Northern District of Texas: Even Post-Berkheimer, Patent Claims Continue to be Ineligible for Patenting as a Matter of Law When They Are Not Drawn to Particular Technical Solutions or Advances Described in the Specification
Federal Circuit: The PTAB Cannot Institute Inter Partes Review on Obviousness Grounds Not Included in the IPR Petition, But Can Consider Evidence of “General Knowledge” in the Art
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Entertainment Law & Finance
‘Vanicorn’ Lawsuit Filed over Pixar, Disney Film
Scott Graham
A unicorn-loving tattoo artist alleges that Pixar and Disney have tricked her into letting them use her “Vanicorn” in the upcoming film Onward. Her suit accuses the companies of copyright infringement, and violations of state and federal laws protecting artwork.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
U.S. Supreme Court Reaffirms the American Rule In De Novo Challenges to the PTO
Jonathan Moskin
In 2013, the PTO adopted a new policy under which any party commencing a de novo proceeding challenging a PTO decision would be responsible to pay a pro rata share of the salaries of the government attorneys working on the matter. On Dec. 11, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the PTO’s new interpretation of the Patent Act and held that the American Rule, a centuries-old principle under which each party bears its own attorneys’ fees, does apply to this statute.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The Trademark That Got His Goat
Mary A. Donovan
In a recent trademark cancellation case that has drawn “human interest” attention in the news, the plaintiff appealed an adverse decision to the Federal Circuit. The plaintiff was not “kidding” when he expressed his opinion that the registered mark, described as “goats on a roof of grass,” is demeaning to goats which, in turn, is offensive to him.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Shaleen J. Patel
Do Not Pass Go? U.S. Supreme Court to Review Federal Circuit’s Finding of Justiciability
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Patenting Diagnostic Tests: Can We Expect Changes?
Leslie Kushner
This article discusses the jurisprudence applied to determining patent eligibility of claims for diagnostic methods, and the expectation for changes in analysis of patent eligibility under §101 in the near future.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Safeguarding Your Intellectual Property
Matthew Calcagno
Documents are the lifeblood of any law firm. The documents that a firm produces are its greatest asset, especially the intellectual property — trade secrets, patent information, etc. — contained in those documents, yet firms historically have not made sufficient efforts to safeguard those documents from both internal and external threats.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
When Are Short Phrases in Songs Protectable?
Robert W. Clarida and Robert J. Bernstein
It’s a common fact pattern: A songwriter alleges that another songwriter has infringed the lyrics of Song A by using a similar short phrase, frequently a current slang phrase, in the lyrics of Song B. Claims like this do not often succeed because “words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans” are “not subject to copyright.”
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Joshua R. Stein and Jeff Ginsberg
Federal Circuit Holds PTAB Judges Unconstitutional, Constructs a Fix—But Not All Judges Agree on What Happens Next
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Entertainment Law & Finance
IP Issues and Esports Athletes
Frank Ready
A new esports-centric survey released by the law firm of Foley & Lardner projects that esports revenues will climb above the $1 billion mark this year. But the increased stakes and growing sophistication of the industry will likely not be without their headaches.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask
Alan L. Friel
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Supreme Court, Finally, Takes Up Google v. Oracle
Scott Graham
The U.S. Supreme Court has jumped into a titanic copyright battle between Oracle Corp. and Google LLC with both barrels. The court’s involvement is sure to reignite a 50-year-old debate over how much, if any, software should be subject to copyright, and the contours of the fair use defense in the digital age.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
More Chinese Companies Are Joining U.S. Firms to Fight Patent Trolls
Phillip Bantz
Some of China’s largest companies have banded together with major brands in the United States and elsewhere to neutralize “patent trolls,” an indication that the country’s firms are becoming increasingly concerned about patent infringement litigation.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Anthony H. Cataldo
U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Booking.com Trademark Case
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Photo Cases Test Copyright Law and Embedded Tweets
Raychel Lean
A New Yorker who settled a copyright lawsuit against several news outlets over a photo he took of star quarterback Tom Brady and Boston Celtics manager Danny Ainge has struck again. This time he’s suing a radio station owner in Florida federal courts in a case that could test the boundaries of an emerging area of copyright law, raising major questions about how media companies incorporate social media posts into online stories.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Safeguarding Your Intellectual Property
Matthew Calcagno
The documents that a firm produces are its greatest asset, yet firms historically have not made sufficient efforts to safeguard those documents from both internal and external threats. Law firms have typically had an open-door approach to document access. This means that anyone in your firm can likely access any document at any time, leaving your firm’s intellectual property entirely unprotected.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Sparks From En Banc Arguments In Song Suit Against Led Zeppelin
Scott Graham
There was much harmony along with a few discordant notes as an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit took up the copyright case involving Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Fourth Circuit Rules that Website’s Unauthorized Posting of Stock Photograph Was Not ‘Fair Use’
Michael W. Mitchell and Edward Roche
The decision in Brammer v. Violent Hues sheds some light on when re-posting will be a “fair use” and when it will give rise to liability.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Cultural Icons Spawn Lawsuits Worth Close Looks
Michael F. Snyder
The ownership of intellectual property rights can be at the core of legal disputes involving pop culture icons. Considering the goodwill, effort and money spent in building a brand, character or commercial impression, it is not surprising that parties to intellectual property agreements find themselves revisiting their arrangements over time. That is what is happening in two recent federal lawsuits, one in New York involving a beloved figure in Philadelphia sports and the other in California focused on the Old Spice cologne commercial jingle.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
How the U.S.-China Trade War Effects IP Strategy
Rob Maier
The trade war between the United States and China has had far-reaching effects on international trade and the global economy. The dispute is slowly developing into a battle of attrition, without any immediate resolution on the horizon despite ongoing trade talks. As businesses change the way they operate in response to this unpredictable trade environment, counsel should consider the risks and potential impacts on corporate IP strategy.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask
Alan L. Friel
Part One of a Two-Part Article
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a comprehensive new consumer protection law set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. In the wake of the CCPA’s passage, approximately 15 other states introduced their own CCPA-like privacy legislation, and similar proposals are being considered at the federal level. Part One of this article covers how the CCPA applies to businesses — both in and outside California, the revenue threshold, proposed amendments and other open issues.
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