Search Engine Advertising Trademark Claims
April 28, 2011
In <i>Network Automation, Inc. v. Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc.</i>, the Ninth Circuit: 1) expressly held that the use of a trademark as a search engine keyword for the purpose of triggering advertisements is a "use in commerce" of that trademark under the Lanham Act; but 2) vacated a preliminary injunction, finding that the district court's analysis of consumer confusion in the Internet context was too narrow.
On the Move
April 25, 2011
Who's doing what; who's going where.
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.
IP News
February 28, 2011
Highlights of the latest intelletual property news from around the country.
First Sale Doctrine Gets Multiple Views in Ninth Circuit
February 28, 2011
Recently, there has been a spate of Ninth Circuit rulings on the first sale doctrine ' all of which have implications for the entertainment industry ' from application of '109(a) to computer software buyers, to imported goods, and to promotional CDs that record companies send to disc jockeys and music critics.