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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Impersonation on Social Media: The Increasing Challenges of Verification
Christine Au-Yeung and Chidera Dawodu
The recent flurry of online impersonators, ranging from accounts posing as President Joe Biden to the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, exposes the challenges of social media platforms’ verification and authentication processes.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The Difference Between ‘Covenant’ and ‘Condition Precedent’ In Song Licensing Agreements
Stan Soocher
A question of law arose for a District Judge when a songwriter sued YouTube, claiming she never approved licensing her works to YouTube — whether the administration agreement’s notice-and-consent clause was a condition precedent to the administrator’s ability to license the songwriter's songs.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Fair Use of Embedded Content on Social Media
Stephen M. Kramarsky and John Millson
The change in character of social media, from purely social communication to a mixture of the social and commercial, has had knock-on effects for courts applying traditional legal principles, notably, the application of copyright law.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
How the Changing Concept of ‘Work’ May Jeopardize Employers’ IP Ownership
Sarah Schaedler and Jennifer T. Criss
A key step to ensure that employers own their intellectual property is having employees sign agreements which assign to the employer all intellectual property created in the course of employment.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Stephanie Remy
Patent Infringement and Trade Dress In the Ninth Circuit
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Live Webinar: The Crypto Landscape Post-FTX
IPS Staff
“The Crypto Landscape Post-FTX,” Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. ET, NY Cyber CLE credits available.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Is Trademark Protection Going to the Dogs?
Jonathan Moskin
The Ninth Circuit held in VIP Prods. LLC v. Jack Daniel’s Properties that VIP’s “Bad Spaniels” dog toy mimicking the appearance of a Jack Daniels whisky bottle was protected expression under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court granted cert in November 2022 to consider the principal question whether humorous use of another’s mark on a commercial product should be assessed under Rogers or the traditional multipart test of likelihood of confusion.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Are You Ready for Europe’s New Patent System?
Marianne Schaffner and Thierry Lautier
In Europe, the patent system is changing and will offer to companies a new patent protection and a new patent court. It should start in April 2023, with a sunrise period starting in January 2023.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
A Secondment Can Help Grow Your IP Practice
By Dan Ovanezian, Blake L. Holt, Azie Aziz and John Whetzel
Although your company may have an in-house IP attorney, your company may still need temporary help from an outside law firm to develop your company’s patent portfolio and to solve your company’s need for temporary help with minimal need for training and financial investment. If you do not have the budget to hire an in-house IP attorney, the solution is to try a secondment — an attorney from an outside law firm temporarily joins your in-house legal team as a “secondee” on a part-time or full-time basis.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and Ryan J. Sheehan
Federal Circuit: Unpatentability Ruling In First IPR Estops Patentee In Second IPR of Related Patent
Federal Circuit: A Disclaimer Made In a Pending IPR Is Not Binding In That Proceeding, But Is Binding In a Subsequent One
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Copyright Claims Board: A New Stage for Copyright Infringement Claims
Robert E. Browne and Michael D. Hobbs
Copyright holders would be well advised to familiarize themselves with the Copyright Claims Board for resolving copyright infringement claims and to consider its benefits and potential downsides in bringing or defending copyright infringement actions.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Criminal Considerations and Federal Authorities In Trade Secrets Disputes
Jeffrey A. Pade and Anand B. Patel
Part One of this article discussed the passing of the Economic Espionage Act to combat the growing concerns surrounding trade secret theft and the criminal components of trade secret theft. Part Two covers considerations in favor of approaching federal authorities on trade secrets theft. Part Three concludes the series with a look at the potential consequences in approaching federal authorities on trade secrets theft.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Recent Trademark In Titles Cases Show ‘High Bar’ for Proving Public Was ‘Explicitly Misled’
Stan Soocher
When it comes to expressive content, disputes over trademark rights in titles of creative works are commonly fought under the federal Lanham Act. Many of these battles play out in courts in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has well-developed legal guidelines on the subject
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Can Consumer Products Be ‘Expressive Works’?
Eric Alan Stone and Catherine Nyarady
In a case that may have significant implications for the ability of mark holders to enforce their marks against many types of products, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is now considering whether consumer products such as sneakers can be considered “expressive works” to which First Amendment protections can apply.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Stephanie Remy
Trademarks and Free Expression In the Ninth Circuit
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Upcoming Webinar
Join Board of Editors member Kyle-Beth Hilfer, Editor-in-Chief Howard Shire, Aaron Krowne and Wenew GC Christine Lawton for Counseling the NFT Client: A Practical Guide to Legal and Business Issues.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
WTF? The Board Weighs In on Failure to Function Refusals
Christopher P. Bussert
Many trademark practitioners have noted the USPTO’s recent penchant for issuing refusals to register trademarks on the ground of failure to function as a trademark. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board picked a colorful case to set precedent and provide some initial guidance on how it will evaluate failure-to-function refusals going forward.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Criminal Considerations and Federal Authorities In Trade Secrets Disputes
Jeffrey A. Pade and Anand B. Patel
Part Two of a Three-Part Series
Part One of this article discussed the passing of the Economic Espionage Act to combat the growing concerns surrounding trade secret theft and the criminal components of trade secret theft. Part Two covers considerations in favor of approaching federal authorities on trade secrets theft.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and George Soussou
Federal Circuit: No Patent Term Adjustments When Claims Change
Federal Circuit: Proceeding Need Not Be Terminated Upon Request
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Criminal Considerations In Trade Secrets Disputes
Jeffrey A. Pade and Anand B. Patel
Part One of a Three-Part Series
When the international theft of U.S. trade secrets escalated and became a higher priority for domestic entities, trade secrets owners faced difficult challenges in collecting evidence, pursuing civil actions against overseas actors, and successfully obtaining worthwhile and meaningful relief from civil actions alone. These challenges ultimately resulted in increased referrals, investigations, and prosecutions of trade secrets theft under the EEA by federal authorities.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Pondering AI Machine Learning and Copyright Fair Use
Cassandre Coyer
By feeding machine-learning models hundreds of copyrighted pictures to train them to identify and “read” certain concepts, companies could face violating copyright laws.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Duty of Candor and Good Faith With the USPTO Covers Non-Inventors and Non-Practitioners
George Chen, Cory Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick
Practitioners and non-practitioners that are associated with the examination of patents and patent applications should be vigilant about information that may be material to patentability to avoid having an issued patent be deemed unenforceable.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Supreme Court Set to Hear Transformativeness Fair Use 'Warhol' Case
Eric Alan Stone and Catherine Nyarady
In the October 2022 Term, the Supreme Court is set to decide whether courts assessing transformativeness under the first fair-use factor of the Copyright Act may consider “the meaning of the accused work where it ‘recognizably deriv[es] from’ its source material.” The case may profoundly affect the fair use analysis, and in turn, the scope of copyright protection for many works.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Stephanie Remy
Federal Circuit: Trade Dress Imitation In the Ninth Circuit
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Protecting a Trademark Licensor’s Rights In Its Licensee’s Bankruptcy Case
Alfred S. Lurey
A recent bankruptcy case from the District of Delaware underscores the need for a trademark licensor to be alert to filings made in its licensee’s bankruptcy case that may require prompt action by the licensor to protect its valuable rights under a license agreement.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP Rights In the Metaverse
Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme and Abla Belhachmi
The metaverse, an immersive virtual experience building on the Internet and the physical world, has become a prominent force in branding and marketing for companies struggling to keep up in an ever so globalized economy. Parallel to this digital expansion has been a surge of intellectual property issues.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Filing a Reissue Can Correct Serious Patent Errors
Jeffrey W. Gluck
Reissue applications may be quite useful. They may be useful in correcting some type of errors that one would normally think of as “errors” in the strict sense of the word. But they may also be used to correct “errors” in scope of patent protection and may thus be used to increase patent value and should thus be considered as a strategic tool in a patent holder’s toolbox.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeffrey S. Ginsberg and Abhishek Bapna
Federal Circuit Affirms District Court’s Decision That an Artificial Intelligence Software System Cannot Be Listed as an Inventor on a Patent Application
Federal Circuit Affirms District Court’s Partial Award of Attorney’s Fees
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
Protecting a Trademark Licensor’s Rights In a Bankruptcy Case
Alfred S. Lurey
A recent bankruptcy case from the District of Delaware underscores the need for a trademark licensor to be alert to filings made in its licensee’s bankruptcy case that may require prompt action by the licensor to protect its valuable rights under a license agreement.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Federal Circuit Analyzes Specification and Prosecution History Claim Language Usage
Matthew Siegal
University of Massachusetts v. L’Oréal
Absent an express disclaimer or special definition of how a term is to be interpreted, it can be frustrating to get a court to reject the plain and ordinary meaning of claim language read in a vacuum, based on the subtleties of how a term is used in a patent or its prosecution history.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
One Banana, Two Banana: Can a Banana Taped to a Wall Be Copyright Protected Art?
Robert W. Clarida and Thomas Kjellberg
On July 7, 2022, the Southern District of Florida denied a motion to dismiss in Morford v. Cattelan, which began by posing the following question: “Can a banana taped to a wall be art?”
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Digital Advertising: Customer Confusion and Trademark Infringement
Stephen M. Kramarsky and John Millson
In the absence of a federal statutory scheme specifically aimed at digital advertising practices, the courts have focused on consumer-facing issues covered by existing law, such as privacy, transparency, and deceptive or misleading advertising practices. But digital advertising technology can also present new challenges in copyright and trademark protection.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Copyright Plaintiffs Can Reach Back More Than Three Years In Seeking Infringement Damages, Ninth Circuit Rules
Stan Soocher
How far back from accrual of a claim may a plaintiff reach for copyright damages?
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Stephanie Remy
Copyright Standing and Fifth Circuit Trade Dress Factors
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
UPDATE: Did the Supreme Court's 'Arthrex’ Decision Open Pandora’s Box?
Robert E. Browne, Jr. and Ryan C. Deck
In June 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Arthrex that the statutory scheme appointing Patent Trial and Appeal Board administrative patent judges to adjudicate IPRs violates the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the Court concluded that because APJ decisions in IPR proceedings are not reviewable by a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed officer, such determinations are not compatible with the powers of inferior officers. The PTO later decided that it would not accept requests for director review of institution decisions. This policy is now also being questioned in Arthrex’s wake.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Quebec’s Bill 96 and Trademarks: Product Packaging and Labelling
Jean-Philippe Mikus, Eliane Ellbogen, and Isabelle Kalar
The modifications brought by the Quebec's Bill 96 will have a far-reaching impact on how businesses use trademarks on product packaging, labelling, public signage and in commercial advertising. This article is Part One of a two-part series on Bill 96 and trademarks and covers the effects as they relate to product packaging and labelling and how best to comply with these new provisions.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Proper Notice of Trademark Rights: Using Trademark Symbols for Three-Dimensional Packaging and Product Designs
Stephen Lott and Lauren Gregory
Among the most common questions trademark attorneys are asked is what the differences are between the symbols ®, TM, and SM. When should such symbols should be used? Where should they appear? How frequently? Do they even need to be used at all?
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
NFTs and IP Protection
Gregory Baker, Anne-Laure Alléhaut and Catherine J. Djang
the legal frameworks governing NFTs — which could significantly impact the risks and rewards of buying or selling NFTs — are still catching up. This article addresses another key legal dimension of NFTs: intellectual property protections.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Recommendations for Evolving Patent Eligibility of Hardware
Hanchel Cheng
Regardless of whether a patent practitioner’s clients favor a stricter or more lenient eligibility regime, patent eligibility decisions continue to evolve. We need a line drawn for what practitioners expect to be clearer. Hardware inventions are facing patent eligibility challenges that would have seemed more likely in software inventions. Recent court decisions have shown that what once made a hardware invention eligible may no longer fly.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Fishing for Joint Patent Ownership Under 'BASF v. CSIRO'
Richard S.J. Hung, Jacob N. Nagy and Evangeline T. Phang
A recent Federal Circuit opinion sheds light on the process for settling co-ownership disputes pursuant to an underlying agreement. Although the precedential opinion does not change the rules of contract interpretation, it suggests considerations when drafting ownership agreements.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Second Circuit Interprets ‘Executed By the Author’ In Copyright Act’s §203 Grant Termination Provision
Stan Soocher
Composers of pre-1978 works often assigned both the initial and renewal copyright terms in their works when signing songwriter agreements with music publishers. But what happens when a grant of the copyright renewal term of a pre-1978 work has been made post-1977?
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Trademark Oppositions and Coexistence Agreements
Ben Thompson and Robert Moorman
There are frequent battles over trademark rights in the entertainment industry. Trademark publication can be an anxious part of the federal application process, with fear of aggressive opposition and costly proceedings looming in the background. But many trademark oppositions, whether they are only threatened or actually filed, afford the applicant a discussion with an opposer that can ultimately be helpful in nonobvious ways.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
‘Executed By the Author’ In Copyright Act’s §203 Grant Termination Provision Interpreted By Second Circuit
Stan Soocher
Composers of pre-1978 works often assigned both the initial and renewal copyright terms in their works when signing songwriter agreements with music publishers. But what happens when a grant of the copyright renewal term of a pre-1978 work has been made post-1977?
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Commentary: What the Music Industry Can Learn from Cable When It Comes to ISPs and Infringement
Keith Hauprich
In the last two decades, the music industry and, more specifically, songwriters, producers and recording artists have been losing the value of their efforts to online piracy. Perhaps a business-to-business solution can be found between the music industry and cable providers.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Howard Shire and Stephanie Remy
Federal Circuit: Agreement Between Patent Owner and Third Party Was Not Insulated from The On-Sale Bar
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
E-Commerce Sellers Should Be Preemptive to Mitigate Effects of Account Suspensions for IP Infringement
Jonathan Bick
E-commerce channel providers’ suspension of sellers’ accounts associated with alleged intellectual property infringement is fast, and suspension remediation is time-consuming and costly. Consequently, e-commerce sellers should contemplate pre-emptive legal and business arrangements to ameliorate potential e-commerce account suspensions consequences.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Choosing Between Trade Secret and Patent Protection: A Primer for Businesses
Darren M. Franklin
When deciding whether to apply for patent protection on an innovation or whether to keep the innovation confidential as a company trade secret, there are many considerations that a business must take into account stemming from the different characteristics of each.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Protecting Clients In the Virtual World
Cameron B. Pick
The “metaverse” in conjunction with Web 3.0 can be thought of as an immersive virtual reality world or worlds, where users can play games, socialize,…
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Trademark Coexistence May Become a Necessity As Market for Trademarks Grows
Ben Thompson and Robert Moorman
Trademark publication can be an anxious part of the application process, with fear of aggressive opposition and costly proceedings looming in the background. But many oppositions, whether they are only threatened or actually filed, afford the applicant a discussion with the opposer that can ultimately be helpful in nonobvious ways.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and Zhiqiang Liu
Federal Circuit Affirms Precedential Opinion Panel Decision Limiting the Circumstances In Which the Board Should Raise Sua Sponte Patentability Issues Against Proposed Substitute Claims
Federal Circuit Rejects District Court’s Claim Construction As Being Too Narrow
Federal Circuit Rejects District Court’s Claim Construction Because It Is Not Supported by the Intrinsic Evidence, and Leaves Dependent Claims Without Scope
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