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.
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 […]
The United Supreme Court on January 18, 2012 in Golan v. Holder rejected a challenge to Congress’ authority to modify the copyright status of certain foreign works previously in the public domain. Writing for the Court, Justice Ginsburg rejected petitioners’ assertion that once a work has entered the public domain it must forever remain there, […]
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 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, has been characterized as a federal trade secrets statute. While the characterization is far from rigorous, it is true that the CFAA provides for civil remedies and criminal penalties in some instances where a “protected computer” is accessed “without authorization or exceeding authorized access.” […]
Traditionally, a plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement case has been entitled to a presumption of irreparable harm if the plaintiff can prove likelihood of success on the merits. In 2006, the Supreme Court decided eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. The Court there rejected a categorical rule that a patent infringement plaintiff […]
As the adult entertainment industry’s (the “Sponsored Community’s”) new .xxx sponsored Top Level Domain (“sTLD”) regime is set to come into effect later this year, an inexpensive and practical opportunity for trademark owners to protect their marks from being associated with that industry, is about to expire. Only until October 28, 2011 — a period […]
Today, President Obama signed the America Invents Act, H.R. 1249, into law. The patent reform legislation took many years to pass, and contains significant changes to the United States patent laws. This post summarizes those that are most significant from a patent litigation perspective. Post grant review procedure (regulations within a year). Within nine months after […]
The first question of patentability – whether the invention falls within the scope of patentable subject matter – will have been addressed by the Supreme Court twice in three years once the Court issues its opinion in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories. For most of 2009 and the first half of 2010, many eagerly […]
A recent decision by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona held, albeit in a default context, that a domain registrar’s forum selection clause in its registration agreement bound the domain registrant not just in a dispute with the registrar, but with a third party. In LimoStars, Inc. v. New Jersey Car […]
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 […]
