Fair Use, First Sale and Marilyn Monroe
Recently, the Southern District of New York resolved a question that neither the Southern District nor the Second Circuit had ever squarely faced: Can the lawful owner of an art object create and post a photograph of that object in connection with the sale of the object through an online platform such as eBay, without the permission of the owner of copyright in the object?
Non-Traditional Trademarks: The Elusiveness of Branding a Trend
A look at several unique trademark cases where the plaintiff fashion brand proactively sought to invalidate a competitor's non-traditional trademarks, an action which reflects a push back on increasingly aggressive litigation tactics by fashion brands seeking to blur the lines between a non-protectable fashion trend and a protectable trademark.
PTO Gives Iancu More Control over PTAB Precedents
The USPTO announced revisions to PTAB procedures that formalize Andrei Iancu's control over the 250 administrative patent judges and their policy-making, while making that control more transparent.
IP News
Federal Circuit: IPR Petitioner Always Retains Burden of Establishing Timeliness<br>Federal Circuit: Framework for 'Overlapping Cases' Applies in IPR
Patent Eligibility of User Interfaces
<b><i>Advances in UI Design Can Provide Key Competitive Differentiation and Advantage, Which Makes Protecting Them Critically Important from a Business Perspective</b></i><p>Advances in UI design can also provide key competitive differentiation and advantage, helping to distinguish otherwise commoditized products and services such as computers, Web services, wearables, and appliances. Given this advantage, protecting advances in UI design can also be critically important from a business perspective.
IP News
Federal Circuit Remands for Further Proceedings to Determine Whether RPX's Petitions for IPR Were Time Barred For Failing to Identify Its Client As a 'Real Party in Interest'<br>Federal Circuit Holds that Common Law Tribal Sovereign Immunity Cannot Shield a Patent in IPR Proceedings,br>Federal Circuit Holds that an Unsuccessful IPR Petitioner Must Show 'Concrete Plans' for Future Potentially-Infringing Activity in Order to Demonstrate Article III Standing to Appeal PTAB's IPR Decision
Foreign Lost Profits Recoverable for Patent Damages
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that a patent owner may recover lost foreign profits for infringement under 35 U.S.C. §271(f)(2). The holding in <i>WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical</i> rejects the Federal Circuit's categorical exclusion of lost profits damages for foreign sales, and expands the potential for increased damages from domestic competitors operating in foreign markets.
Supreme Court to Review Post-AIA On-Sale Bar
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a question raised by Helsinn Healthcare: whether, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) an inventor's sale of an invention to a third party that is obligated to keep the invention confidential qualifies as prior art for purposes of determining the patentability of the invention.
“Registration” Means “Registration” … Or Does It?
<b><i>Supreme Court Grants Cert to Resolve Circuit Split on Registration Prerequisite for Filing Suit under Copyright Act</b></i><p>Although the term “registration” as used in the Section 411(a) of the Copyright Act does not immediately appear to be ambiguous, courts have reached differing conclusions as to its meaning.
