The Ripple Effect of Rejecting Trademark Licenses
April 01, 2018
<b><i>The First Circuit Widens the Controversy</b></i><p>In <i>In re Tempnology</i>, the First Circuit held that the debtor's rejection of a trademark license strips the nondebtor licensee of any right to continue to use the trademarks. In so doing, the court takes the same approach as the Fourth Circuit and rejects the approaches advocated by the Third and Seventh Circuits.
A Reasonable Royalty Rate Must Be Tied to Facts
April 01, 2018
<b><i>Exmark Manufacturing Company Inc. v. Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group, LLC</b></i><p>The rate of the reasonable royalty awarded to a successful patent plaintiff must be based on the facts of the case. A damages expert cannot merely pay lip service to the <i>Georgia-Pacific</i> factors and then “pluck” a royalty rate from thin air.
How Ticket Software Lost Trade Secret Protection
April 01, 2018
Trade secret protection applies only to confidential information. In almost all circumstances, broadcasting to the world the intricate details and applications of a trade secret extinguishes whatever “property right” an entertainment industry holder once possessed. What is a sufficient method of contractually notifying a software user of the trade secret status of certain information is a closer question.
IP News
April 01, 2018
Claim Preclusion Requires Analysis that Claims in Newly Asserted Patents are Patently Indistinct from Claims in Previously Adjudicated Patents<br>Claim Elements Taught by Prior Art for Purposes of Novelty and Obviousness are not Necessarily 'Well-Understood, Routine, and Conventional' Under §101
Even the Value of the Smallest Salable Unit Must Be Apportioned
March 01, 2018
<i><b>Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Sys., Inc.</b></i><p>The Federal Circuit ruled that basing a reasonable royalty calculation on the “smallest salable unit” does not obviate the need to apportion damages to the patented contribution within that unit.
IP News
March 01, 2018
Federal Circuit Vacates Noninfringement Decision Finding a Genuine Dispute as to Divided Infringement<br>Patent Trial and Appeal Board Holds Sovereign Immunity No Defense to IPR Petition Brought by Accused Infringer
Trademark Board's Precedential Ruling on Use in Commerce
February 01, 2018
In a nearly 50-page precedential opinion in a ruling of great significance to the entertainment industry, a TTAB panel of judges recently underscored the need to prove actual use in commerce in order to register a trademark, regardless of how low the standard for use under the Lanham Act has recently become.