Three years ago, the Federal Trade Commission announced a study of “patent assertion entities” (“PAEs”): “businesses that acquire patents from third parties and seek to generate revenue by asserting them against alleged infringers.” The FTC’s purpose was to gather information about PAEs in order to make informed policy decisions regarding “the role of PAEs in […]
In Octane Fitness v. ICON Health & Fitness (2014), the Supreme Court changed the standard for recovering attorneys’ fees in patent litigation. Rejecting a “rigid and mechanical formulation,” the Court adopted a looser “totality of the circumstances” test. Earlier this year, a Ninth Circuit panel held that the Octane Fitness standard did not apply in […]
You encounter a website that looks very similar to your company’s website. The similarities make clear that your website was copied. Even worse, it was copied by a competitor. Please see this article that discusses the remedies you may have under intellectual property laws.
Please see this article about a recent Eleventh Circuit opinion addressing copyright protection for architectural works.
In Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO’s”) standard for construing patent claims in an inter partes review (“IPR”), a post-grant proceeding used to challenged patent validity. In a 6-2 decision, the Court also affirmed that the USPTO’s decision whether to institute an IPR […]
Supap Kirtsaeng realized he could buy cheaper, identical textbooks in Thailand and resell them for a profit in the U.S. John Wiley & Sons, the publisher of some of these textbooks, sued him for copyright infringement. Kirtsaeng prevailed on his fair use defense, but the court denied him attorney’s fees under § 505 of the […]
The Seagate two-part test for enhanced patent infringement damages under 35 U.S.C. § 284 — (1) objectively, infringement was not a close call, and (2) subjectively, the defendant knew or obviously should have known that — is gone. So too is the patentee’s burden to prove entitlement to enhanced damages by clear and convincing evidence. The […]
Please see this brief video message regarding this important new legislation, signed by President Obama today.
Monday the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear cases on patent laches, SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag et al. v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC et al., and copyright protection for clothing, Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. In SCA Hygiene, the Supreme Court will review the Federal Circuit’s decision that laches remains a viable […]
The House of Representatives passed the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) on April 27, 2016 with a vote of 410-2. Strong, unified support for the DTSA by the House of Representatives closely followed its unanimous passage by the Senate in early April 2016. The DTSA now will be presented to President Obama for his […]
