Dish Network offers its customers the “Hopper”—a set-top box that combines video on demand (VOD) and digital video recorder (DVR) functionality. The Hopper uses “PrimeTime Anytime” and “AutoHop” to automatically record TV shows and skip commercials in those shows. Fox sued Dish, claiming these services infringed Fox’s copyrights, and moved for a preliminary injunction. The […]
On June 13, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that 1) naturally-occurring DNA sequences are not patentable, even if they have been isolated from their natural environment, and 2) sequences of complimentary DNA (cDNA) are patentable. The Court’s recent decision in Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. ____ […]
Patents confer upon the owner of the patent the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention for a set period of time. Tensions arise when patented technologies are included as part of industry technical standards, creating standard-essential patents that are required for system interoperability for certain technologies. […]
On September 13, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in 1st Media, LLC v. Electronic Arts, Inc., No. 2010-1435 (“1st Media”), reversed a Nevada district court’s ruling holding a patent owned by 1st Media unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. 1st Media, LLC v. do Pi Karaoke, Inc., No. 07-cv-1589 (Apr. 23, 2010). The opinion […]
The Ninth Circuit recently bolstered the legal defenses available to Internet service providers in copyright infringement claims based upon users loading copyrighted material on the service provider’s website, in UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Shelter Capital Partners LLC, No. 09-55902, decided on December 20, 2011. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that an Internet service provider […]
Litigation often involves information that a company wants to protect from disclosure in public court records, such valuable technical, financial, and business information that is otherwise kept confidential. One way of protecting this type of information is to seal court records. Although courts generally are leery to impede the public’s interest in open access to […]
The power of Ninth Circuit district courts to decide lawsuits against foreign intentional tortfeasors, such as IP infringers, has waxed and waned — and, lately, waxed again. The question of personal jurisdiction often has turned on whether the defendant “expressly aimed” its misconduct at the forum. That term originated with the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision […]
Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer intellectual property and technology litigation blog! Check here for useful news and information about patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other IP and technology litigation developments. For links to posts on recent developments occurring before this blog’s launch, click here: pleading, inequitable conduct, inducement of patent infringement, patent invalidity, and […]
