A split Supreme Court has decided that, under a plain reading of the Copyright Act, a party alleging copyright infringement may obtain damages for the entire damages period, so long as the suit itself is timely brought....more
5/15/2024
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Damages ,
Discovery Rule ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Music Industry ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
The Copyright Act ,
Warner Chappell Music v Nealy
On June 24, 2019, the US Supreme Court clarified that the Lanham Act’s bar on “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks violates the First Amendment because it discriminates based on viewpoint. The decision followed the Supreme...more
6/26/2019
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Iancu v. Brunetti ,
Lanham Act ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
Scandalous/Immoral Marks ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Viewpoint Discrimination
On May 20, 2019, the US Supreme Court clarified that when a trademark licensor rejects a trademark license agreement in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, the rejection does not rescind the use rights of the licensee under...more
6/24/2019
/ Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Breach of Contract ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Exclusions ,
Executory Contracts ,
IP License ,
Mission Product Holdings Inc v Tempnology LLC ,
Rescission ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 365 ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Licenses ,
Trademarks ,
Trustees
On June 10, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-31 that the Federal Government is not a “person” entitled to institute post-grant proceedings - inter partes review, post-grant review, or covered business method review (CBM review) -...more
It has been a big week for copyright cases, and it’s only Wednesday. This Monday, the Supreme Court issued opinions on two copyright cases pending before it from the October 2018 term. ...more
3/7/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Exhaustion ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Registration ,
Damages ,
Expert Fees ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remedies ,
Rimini Street Inc v Oracle USA Inc ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
On June 22, 2018, the US Supreme Court clarified the scope of permissible patent damages awards by holding that when a party is found liable under
35 U.S.C. § 271(f) for exporting components of a patented invention, foreign...more
6/26/2018
/ 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)(2) ,
Appeals ,
Component Parts Doctrine ,
Damages ,
Domestic Injury ,
Exports ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Profits ,
Foreign Sales ,
Lost Profits ,
Patent Act ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
WesternGeco LLC v Ion Geophysical Corporation
The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has recently amended its rules governing section 337 unfair trade practice investigations. The amendments formally add the 100-day program, permit the Commission to split...more
On May 22, 2017, the Supreme Court fundamentally narrowed patent venue by unanimously holding in TC Heartland that patent holders must follow the patent venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), which requires suing (1) “where the...more
On April 24, 2018, the US Supreme Court decided two important cases that directly impact inter partes reviews (IPRs) before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and patent litigation as a whole. In Oil States Energy...more
4/30/2018
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
America Invents Act ,
Article III ,
Chevron Deference ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Estoppel ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Oil States Energy Services v Greene's Energy Group ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Ownership ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Public Rights Doctrine ,
SAS Institute Inc. v Iancu ,
SCOTUS ,
Seventh Amendment ,
USPTO
On September 21, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in In re Cray, Inc. clarified the rules for determining proper venue in patent suits, building on the US Supreme Court’s May 2017 ruling in TC Heartland...more
When the US Supreme Court decision in TC Heartland was published, many patent practitioners thought that the decision would adversely affect the Eastern District of Texas, a popular venue for patentees because of its quick...more
7/13/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Forum Shopping ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Principal Place of Business ,
Raytheon ,
SCOTUS ,
State of Incorporation ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Venue
On June 19, 2017, the US Supreme Court in Matal v. Tam unanimously affirmed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which precludes “disparaging” trademark...more
The US Supreme Court held in Life Techs. Corp. v. Promega Corp., Slip No. 14-1538 (Feb. 22, 2017) that supplying a single component of a multi-component invention manufactured abroad does not give rise to patent infringement...more
In a case reversing a $399 million damages award to Apple, the U.S. Supreme Court has held unanimously that an “article of manufacture” under the design patent damages statute can be anything from an entire product to a...more
12/9/2016
/ Apple v Samsung ,
Article of Manufacture ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Component Parts Doctrine ,
Design Patent ,
Patent Infringement ,
Popular ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Smartphones