The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sustained statutory royalty rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board for certain web streaming services following a challenge to the rates by an independent...more
In a case involving the infringing download and distribution of plaintiff’s film through peer-to-peer BitTorrent networks, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s...more
In a decision examining the extent of copyright protection provided to certain data compilations, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment in favor of the defendant on copyright infringement...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in the so-called “Monkey Selfies” case affirming the district court’s dismissal of claims brought by Naruto, a crested macaque, holding that the animal lacked...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit examined the extent to which copyright protection can be granted in the expression of an idea based on elements first found in nature, and finding only a “thin copyright” in the...more
In a dispute pertaining to copyright infringement of pornographic films created by the plaintiff, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a defendant...more
In a case that attracted 20 amici briefs, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a blockbuster decision in the years-long battle between Oracle and Google over Google’s Android platform. The Court concluded...more
In a dispute concerning the famous Michael Jordan “Jumpman” logo owned by Nike, Inc., the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the district court that the Nike logo did not infringe any copyright in...more
In a multi-jurisdictional dispute between a band and a satellite radio provider, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit adopted reasoning similar to that of the New York Court of Appeals (IP Update, Vol. 20, No. 3) in...more
Two Federal Preemption Cases, One Consistent Outcome -
Two recent decisions from the Fourth and Fifth Circuits—with similar outcomes—have contributed further guidance and consistency on the issue of federal preemption with...more
Affirming a grant of summary judgment in favor of copyright defendants, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit took up the “often litigated issue” of whether a stock photography agency has standing under the Copyright...more
In reversing a district court grant of summary judgment in favor of a social media platform, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered a deeper look at the degree to which the common law of agency affects a safe...more
Reversing the district court’s partial grant of summary judgment in favor of an internet streaming service, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit relied on the US Copyright Office’s interpretation of § 111 of the...more
In a case stemming from a copyright dispute over photographs of the legendary hip hop group Run-DMC, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a music...more
Citing the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit’s recent en banc decision in Garcia v. Google (IP Update, Vol. 18, No. 6), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling that...more
8/11/2015
/ Appeals ,
Authorship ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Film Industry ,
Garcia v Google ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Summary Judgment ,
The Copyright Act ,
Work-For-Hire
Overturning a hotly debated district court decision, in a case involving numerous amicus curiae briefs, the en banc Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a motion for a preliminary...more
7/10/2015
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
First Amendment ,
Google ,
Irreparable Harm ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Prior Restraint ,
The Copyright Act ,
YouTube
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a copyright infringement complaint by an entity that has brought similar copyright ownership claims against famed comic book author...more
Chicago Building Design, P.C., et. al. v. Mongolian House, Inc., et. al. -
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit applied the Supreme Court of the United States’ May 2014 ruling in Petrella (IP Update, Vol....more
Automated Solutions Corporation v. Paragon Data Systems, Inc. -
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit confirmed that a party claiming infringement of copyrighted computer software must identify those...more
In a ruling that could potentially increase the number of copyright infringement actions, the Supreme Court of the United States has resolved a conflict among the circuits, holding that the equitable defense of laches cannot...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling and an award of attorneys’ fees, finding that a hookah water container used for smoking tobacco was not entitled to copyright protection....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that the federal district court erred in dismissing claims for copyright infringement, conversion and declaratory relief brought by the sons of the late concert...more
Since 2004, the Google Books project has scanned over 20 million books and has provided digital copies of the books to participating libraries while also creating a searchable database of books. The Google Books database...more
Patents / Patent Eligible Subject Matter -
Supreme Court to Myriad: Isolated DNA Sequences Are Not Patent-Eligible Subject Matter --
AMP et al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.:
In a 9–0 decision the Supreme...more
6/27/2013
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
AMP v Myriad ,
Burden of Proof ,
Copyright ,
Damages ,
DNA ,
False Advertising ,
First Amendment ,
Human Genes ,
Infringement ,
Lanham Act ,
Myriad ,
Oprah Winfrey ,
Patent Terms ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
SCOTUS ,
Time Warner ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Willful Infringement
Obviousness-Type Double Patenting May Exist When There Is Neither Common Ownership nor Common Inventorship -
Addressing an obviousness-type double patenting rejection, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit...more
4/30/2013
/ Affidavits ,
Claim Construction ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Discovery ,
DMCA ,
Infringement ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Safe Harbors ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO