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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.

Eighth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of “Love Happens” Trademark Infringement Suit for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction

By: Emily R. Parker and David G. Barker The Eighth Circuit recently upheld dismissal of Brothers and Sisters in Christ, LLC’s (“BASIC”) lawsuit against online marketplace Zazzle, affirming that “the bare-bones nature of BASIC’s allegations,” including Zazzle’s sale of a single t-shirt, were insufficient to create personal jurisdiction in the state of Missouri.  BASIC is […]

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Ninth Circuit Upholds Trademark Protections for Manufacturer of E-Cigarettes Containing Delta-8 THC

By Andrew S. Green and David G. Barker The Ninth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction in favor of AK Futures LLC (“AK Futures”), a manufacturer of e-cigarette and vaping products, against Boyd Street Distro, LLC (“Boyd Street”), a Los Angeles-based storefront and smoke product wholesaler that had allegedly been selling counterfeit versions of AK Futures’ […]

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Andy Warhol, Prince, and the First Amendment: U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review of Questions Concerning “Fair Use” Under Copyright Act

By Amanda Z. Weaver, Ph.D. and David G. Barker The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted a petition for writ of certiorari (docket, here) to review the extent to which a work of art is a “transformative” fair use under the Copyright Act. The Court will review a Second Circuit decision holding Andy Warhol’s set of […]

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Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal of “Process Automation” Patent Infringement Suit

By Zach Schroeder and David G. Barker On March 15, 2022, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Eastern District of Texas’s dismissal of a patent infringement complaint because the asserted patent claims were directed to process automation and therefore not eligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Repifi Vendor Logistics sued Intellicentrics for infringing […]

Supreme Court: Mistakes of Law Can Excuse Inaccurate Copyright Registration

By Daniel M. Staren and David G. Barker The Supreme Court held today that lack of knowledge of either fact or law can excuse inaccuracies in a copyright registration under Section 411(b)’s safe harbor provision of the Copyright Act. Unicolors created fabric designs but did not publish them at the same time.  Later, in February […]

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Federal Circuit Rejects Two-Tiered Royalty Patent Damages

By Daniel M. Staren and David G. Barker Last week, a Federal Circuit panel vacated a billion dollar jury verdict in favor of plaintiff-appellee California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”) and remanded for a new trial on damages because of Caltech’s unsupported two-tiered reasonable royalty patent damages theory. Caltech sued Broadcom, Apple, and others in the […]

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Federal Circuit Rejects “Unanswered Questions” Indefiniteness Standard

By Emily Parker and David Barker Last week, a split Federal Circuit panel reversed a decision invalidating certain computer-aided-design patent claims because the district court used an incorrect indefiniteness standard. Nature Simulation Systems (“NSS”) sued Autodesk, Inc. for infringing two patents directed to computerized methods for building three-dimensional objects. Autodesk argued that certain claims in […]

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Federal Circuit Upholds a Silent Written Description

By David G. Barker In a precedential opinion this week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court judgment in favor of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, in an appeal brought by HEC Pharm challenging the written description in Novartis’s 9,187,405 patent. Novartis markets a 0.5 mg daily-dose drug to treat a form of multiple sclerosis, and the patent […]

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