IP News
March 29, 2011
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.
Downstream Liability in Trade Secret Litigation After Silvaco
March 29, 2011
Last year, for the first time, the issue of downstream liability surfaced in the law of trade secret misappropriation. In 2010, a California appellate court held in <i>Silvaco Data Sys. v. Intel Corp.</i> that a software licensee did not know or acquire the secret source code the manufacturer used to make the product and, as a matter of law, it could not be liable for trade secret misappropriation.
Centocor v. Abbott Labs: Must You Only Preach What You Practice?
March 29, 2011
The Federal Circuit's decision on Feb. 23, 2011 in <i>Centocor Ortho Biotech., Inc. v. Abbott Labs.</i>, vacated a $1.67 billion verdict based on invalidity for insufficient written description. The case provides an example of when technology can be so complicated or unpredictable that the specification does not adequately explain how to practice the claimed invention.
Passing the Baton
March 29, 2011
As law firms and many other professional service firms including CPAs emerge from the turbulent economic environment of the past few years, they find themselves with an ownership group that continues to age and mounting concerns on how the enterprise will find the continuity to survive and prosper into the future.
Small Impact on Practice Predicted from White House IP Recommendations
March 29, 2011
When the White House's intellectual-property enforcement coordinator, Victoria Espinel, submitted a wish list to Congress in March recommending 20 changes to federal intellectual property law largely aimed at ramping up criminal punishment for IP infringement, IP lawyers said the white paper recommendations would likely have only a tenuous effect, if any, on civil IP litigation or patent prosecution.
Judge Changes Mind, Rules for Coca-Cola in Suit by Songwriter
March 29, 2011
Miami Beach songwriter Rafael "Rafa" Vergara Hermosilla bested Coca-Cola in 2010 when a federal judge issued an injunction in Vergara's fight for credit for the international mega hit of "Wavin' Flag" in Spanish. But litigation is a marathon, not a sprint, and Coca-Cola recently won the more important Round 2. Federal District Judge K. Michael Moore, of the Southern District of Florida, has granted Coca-Cola's renewed motion for summary judgment, dismissing Vergara's claim of copyright infringement by noting that when Vergara wrote the Spanish translation version of "Wavin' Flag," he assigned the rights of his work to Universal Music Group.
Claims Risks
March 29, 2011
As in-house counsel continue to juggle their roles between corporate gatekeepers and confidants, they face a host of emerging risks.
<i><b>When the Show Can't Go On</i></b> Seeking Insurance Recovery for Concert Cancellations
March 29, 2011
Concert tours can generate significant income for an artist. Yet every concert tour carries a risk that some event outside of the artist's control ' health issues, physical injuries, adverse weather or safety concerns, to name a few ' could force the cancellation of a single show or even an entire tour, thereby resulting in lost revenue to the artist and unrecoverable costs. To protect against this risk, many performance artists elect to obtain event cancellation and/or non-appearance insurance (which may be covered under the same or separate policies) prior to going on tour. This insurance coverage often covers financial losses, including lost guaranteed income, that result from cancellation of the event.
