News & Analysis as of

Intellectual Property Protection Supreme Court of the United States

Snell & Wilmer

Vetements Urges the Supreme Court to Reconsider Trademark Protection for Foreign Words

Snell & Wilmer on

Vetements Group AG (“Vetements”), a Swiss luxury brand that sells expensive, reimagined clothing, recently petitioned the Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit decision in In re: Vetements Grp. AG, Case Nos. 2023-2050,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Earmuffs, Kids: The Federal Circuit Delivers the F-bomb Right Back to the TTAB

The Federal Circuit’s recent precedential decision in In re Erik Brunetti has surely raised some eyebrows in the trademark community (and beyond), not just for its subject matter (the attempted registration of a certain...more

Fish & Richardson

The Patent Eligibility Eras Tour: 11 Years Of Post-Alice Tumult

Fish & Richardson on

Following the June 19 anniversary, it's now been 11 years since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International — a case that declared a new test for when claims are ineligible for being directed to...more

Mayer Brown

Key Court Decisions: Functional and Generic Trademarks

Mayer Brown on

In this episode of The Upper Brand, Richard Assmus, Kristine Young, and Christa Cole delve into key court cases that have shaped trademark law. They explore the intricacies of functional and generic trademarks, with insights...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Game over: Prior interference doesn’t preclude IPR proceeding

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board unpatentability determination during an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding, concluding that the Board’s decision to not apply...more

ArentFox Schiff

Overcoming the ‘Settled Expectations’ Doctrine: Guidance From Intel v. Proxense

ArentFox Schiff on

Last month, we provided an overview of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) application of the “settled expectations” doctrine, articulated in recent PTAB director-level decisions. Interim Director Coke Morgan Stewart...more

Jenner & Block

Two Years After Abitron: Navigating the Limits of US Trademark Enforcement Abroad

Jenner & Block on

Two years after the US Supreme Court’s decision in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., US trademark owners and global businesses continue to grapple with its implications for cross-border enforcement. The...more

Maynard Nexsen

Patenting Microbial Products: Pitfalls, Value, and Special Concerns

Maynard Nexsen on

The use of microorganisms in human industry is ancient, but has increased markedly in recent years. The modern recognition of the role of microbial communities in the human body has intensified innovation in fields like...more

Knobbe Martens

German Sandals Follow the Functional Footsteps of U.S. Cheerleader Uniform Shape

Knobbe Martens on

In a recent decision, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice held that Birkenstock’s sandal design was not eligible for copyright protection. The court held that Birkenstock sandals did not display sufficient creativity to be...more

Foster Garvey PC

Shared Names, Separate Profits: What Dewberry Tells Us About Trademark Liability

Foster Garvey PC on

The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Dewberry Group v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. (23-900 (604 U.S. _____ (2025)), provides important guidance on corporate separateness, trademark enforcement and the scope of damages...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

To Recuse or Not to Recuse? An Update.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Given that litigation in the United States can take years from start to finish, we rarely see a conclusion to the cases we follow. In a prior blog post, we looked at the potential recusal requirements of the U.S. Supreme...more

Proskauer - The Patent Playbook

The Uncertain Future of Section 101: Patent Eligibility in the Wake of Recent Supreme Court (In)Action

Patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 remains one of the most hotly contested and unpredictable areas of U.S. patent law. In the years following the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l...more

Lowndes

When the Machine Becomes the Creator: Artificial Intelligence v. the Human Creator Requirements of U.S. Copyright Law

Lowndes on

On March 18, 2025 the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Stephen Thaler v. Shira Perlmutter et al., confirming that U.S. law requires human authorship. Specifically, the question presented to the Court was “can a...more

Smart & Biggar

When patents expire but royalty payments don’t: contrasting U.S. and Canadian approaches to patent licensing

Smart & Biggar on

How does the expiration of the patents in one jurisdiction impact global royalty payments? This question was addressed by the United States Court of Appeal’s Ninth Circuit in C.R. Bard Inc v Atrium Medical Corporation, Case...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Section 337 Now Viable for “Mere Importers” After Federal Circuit’s Lashify Decision

For years, the U.S. International Trade Commission maintained that the potent remedies available under Section 337 were unavailable to intellectual property owners considered to be nothing more than “mere importers.” That...more

Jones Day

Affiliates (Currently) Off the Hook: Supreme Court Vacates $43M Trademark Infringement Award

Jones Day on

The Supreme Court vacates a decision treating a company and its affiliates as "one and the same" for purposes of disgorging profits for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act, but leaves many questions unaddressed....more

Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP

Supreme Court Upholds Principle Of Corporate Separateness In Vacating Award To Dewberry Engineers

n a decision that strongly endorsed the principle of corporate separateness – where a company’s affiliates are not financially responsible for the legal obligations of their parent – the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That Successful Trademark Plaintiffs Cannot Recover Profits From Named Defendants’...

Fox Rothschild LLP on

On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously vacated a nearly $43 million award in a trademark dispute that raised the question of whether a defendant’s affiliates could be held liable for payment of a disgorged...more

Greenberg Glusker LLP

AI Training, Fair Use, and the Burdens of Being First

Greenberg Glusker LLP on

Judge Bibas’s second take in Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence will get plenty of second looks from courts deciding fair use in generative AI copyright cases. “Highly fact-specific.” “Narrowly decided.” A case with...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Dog Toy Maker in the Doghouse (Again) for Tarnishing Jack Daniel’s Marks

Addressing this case for the third time, the US District Court for the District of Arizona found on remand that Jack Daniel’s was entitled to a permanent injunction after finding that VIP Products’ “Bad Spaniels” dog toy...more

Kilpatrick

6 Key Takeaways | Annual Update on Recent Trademark Case Law

Kilpatrick on

Kilpatrick partner Ted Davis recently presented his “Annual Update on Recent Trademark Case Law” at the firm’s 2025 Advanced Trademark Law Seminar in San Francisco....more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

The Supreme Court and Intellectual Property in 2024-2025: What Was Decided, What Is To Come And What Was Declined

In wrapping up the 2023-24 term and embarking on the 2024-25 term, the Supreme Court was asked to decide a number of intellectual property cases. The Court issued several significant opinions in 2024 and has taken several...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Patent Eligibility: The Call for Supreme Court Clarity and for an End to Summary Affirmances

The U.S. Supreme Court has once again been urged to revisit 35 U.S.C. § 101, the statute governing patent eligibility. Audio Evolution Diagnostics, Inc. (AED) filed a petition for writ of certiorari, challenging the Federal...more

Haug Partners LLP

The Sole Meaning of “Solely”: Supreme Court Denies Certiorari on Edward Life Sciences v. Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. and Permits...

Haug Partners LLP on

This month the Supreme Court denied certiorari on Edwards Lifesciences Corp. v. Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., and in doing so, seemingly indicated its support for a broad interpretation of the Hatch-Waxman safe harbor...more

Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP

Supreme Court Deciding Trademark Case With Broad Implications For The Principle Of Corporate Separateness

In August 2023, a federal appeals court upheld a district court case ruling that declined to apply the principle of corporate separateness – that corporations have no liability for their affiliates’ actions or obligations....more

447 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 18

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide