Intellectual Property Law

Second Circuit Upholds Copyright Fair Use Defense For Grateful Dead Biography

Posted on May 25, 2006
In a ruling giving heart to fair use advocates, the Second Circuit recently found that the defendant?s unauthorized use of entire images of seven Grateful Dead concert posters and tickets within ?Illustrated Trip,? a 480-page biography of the Dead, constituted fair use, and not copyright infringement...

FTC v. Schering-Plough: DOJ Opposes Cert

Posted on May 19, 2006
We told you back in January about the possible involvement of the Supreme Court in the question of whether Schering-Plough?s authorized generics agreement violates unfair competition laws. The Supreme Court took the somewhat unusual step of asking the Solicitor General?s office to weigh in on the Federal Trade Commission?s antitrust case against Schering-Plough, which argued that patent infringement settlements should...

eBay v. MercExchange: Traditional Test For Equitable Relief Applies

Posted on May 15, 2006
In a unanimous landmark opinion, the Supreme Court vacated the Federal Circuit this morning and established that the traditional four-factor test for permanent injunctive relief applies when determining the remedy for patent infringement. eBay v. MercExchange, 547 U...

Court Gives Beatles No "Help" In Apple vs. Apple

Posted on May 09, 2006
A court in England decided this week to ?Let it Be,? rejecting a suit by Apple Corps Ltd. against Apple Computer Inc. claiming that Apple Computer?s iPod product and iTunes service breach a settlement agreement entered into by the parties 15 years ago to resolve prior trademark litigation, thereby infringing Apple Corp's trademark...

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Maker of Blackberry Devices Facing New Patent Infringement Challenge

Posted on May 03, 2006
Research in Motion, the company that manufactures the popular Blackberry wireless email device, has once again found itself being hauled into court in connection with an alleged patent infringement violation. Only weeks after its well-publicized $612...

Patent Reform Is Still Alive And Moving - Sort Of

Posted on May 01, 2006
Last fall, we reported on Congress? ambitious efforts to reform the U.S. patent system with the introduction of several versions of patent reform legislation. At that time, the proposed legislation contained several measures that put prominent groups ? in particular the biotech industry and the information technology industry ? at odds with one another...

Senate Ponders New Rules For Satellite Music Services

Posted on April 28, 2006
A new and controversial bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would require satellite radio companies to pay fair market value for the performance of digital music and would require them to use readily available technical means to prevent music copying. S...

Court Slaps FDA's Wrist

Posted on April 18, 2006
In a rebuke to the FDA, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia last week ruled that the FDA?s failure to act on a New Drug Application (?NDA?) filed by Sandoz, Inc. within 180 days violated a Congressional mandate. The court entered summary judgment in favor of Sandoz and ordered the FDA ?to take appropriate action? to...

Blogging About BIO

Posted on April 14, 2006
BIO 2006 met in Chicago earlier this week, and the Blawg was there. BIO, which stands for Biotechnology Industry Organization, is a trade and advocacy group for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Its annual BIO conference is its flagship event, and this year almost 20,000 people affiliated with the industry descended on Chicago for three days of meetings, networking and...

ABA IP Roundtable: Litigating Software Patents

Posted on April 12, 2006
Would you like to learn more about litigating software patents? Do you enjoy discussing legal issues with a wide cross-section of individuals interested in the same topic? If so, what are you doing for lunch next Wednesday? Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to be a regular host of the Intellectual Property Roundtable Series sponsored by the American Bar Association's...

Expanding Joint Patent Infringement?

Posted on April 12, 2006
Potentially dangerous precedent can arise from passing comments casually made by appellate courts. This is what seems to have happened in case decided last week by the Federal Circuit, On Demand Machine v. Ingram and Amazon.com (No. 05?1074)(Fed. Cir...

Patent Reform, PDQ!

Posted on April 09, 2006
With the Supreme Court's present interest in patent law , and while the automatic entering of a permanent injunction following infringement is still waiting for a decision in eBay v. MercExchange, it comes as no surprise that yet another attempt at patent reform has surfaced in Congress...

Nyet To Russia On Stoli

Posted on April 05, 2006
What could be more Russian than Stoli vodka? Apparently, quite a few things. Concluding an unusual dispute over the ?Stolichnaya? trademark, a U.S. District Judge in New York ruled that the trademark is the possession not of a company owned by the government of Russia, but of several distributors of Stoli vodka...

Keyword Disputes Cause Courts To Search For Answers

Posted on April 05, 2006
An issue that has been building on the horizon for some time ? the use of competitors? names as keywords to trigger sponsored links on search engines ? is starting to percolate through the courts, with conflicting results. As more cases reach trial or adjudication, we?re eager to see whether courts will entertain novel theories of trademark infringement based on...

We Can't Work It Out

Posted on April 03, 2006
The trademark dispute between Apple Corps Ltd., the UK company that was the recording label for the Beatles, and Apple Computer Inc., developer of the iPod digital music players and iTunes music store, took center stage in a London courtroom last week...

Moving Your TiVo Offsite - Would Copying Video Still Fair Use?

Posted on March 31, 2006
Some of you may remember the VCR, a then-revolutionary predecessor to TiVo that permitted people to record television shows in their homes, even (gasp) when not at home. In the early 1980s, the entertainment industry said VCRs would lead to the downfall of television as we knew it because viewers would be able to do such things as fast-forward through...

Permanent Injunctions For Infringers . . .

Posted on March 29, 2006
We've been following developments in the blockbuster patent case of eBay v. MercExchange, and today brought the long-await oral argument at the Supreme Court. Court watchers conclude that eBay has an uphill battle in convincing the high court that a permanent injunction should not issue after infringement is found...

Is It Time To Scrap The DMCA?

Posted on March 24, 2006
It has been almost eight years since the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (?DMCA?) became law, and throughout its relatively short life, the use of the DMCA has sparked controversy between digital content providers who are trying to protect their works from ever-easier copying and those who advocate greater access to information...

Never Mind, Metabolite?

Posted on March 23, 2006
Some of our regular IP Blawgers have been busy in trial, and you might have noticed that we unfortunately haven?t been posting as often as normal. Even so, we?re still keeping a close eye on the hot patent cases sitting on the Supreme Court?s docket this term...

Let Freedom Fries Ring

Posted on March 16, 2006
What started as a protest against France for its refusal to participate in the invasion of Iraq has independent commercial value, at least according to one entrepreneurial company. Sensing an opportunity to capitalize on a burst of patriotic fever in the U...

The Stage Is Set For eBay v. MercExhchange

Posted on March 14, 2006
We told you last December that the Supreme Court granted cert in the matter of eBay v. MercExchange, where it is expected to address the question of when an injunction should issue against a patent infringer. Oral argument is set for March 29, and the respondents? briefs were due last Friday, March 10...

The IP Blawg Goes to UC Berkeley?s Stem Cell Initiative Conference

Posted on March 10, 2006
As our loyal readers know, the IP Blawg is keenly interested in the progress of California?s Institute for Regenerative Medicine (?CIRM??). While the trial court considering the validity of Proposition 71 received closing arguments this week, a diverse group gathered at Berkeley?s Boalt Hall School of Law last week for a conference on California?s Stem Cell Initiative to learn about...

So, What Are Judges Thinking?

Posted on March 09, 2006
As part of its tireless attempt to stay on top of what is going on in the IP world, the Blawg recently attended a round table discussion on current patent issues presented by several judges from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California...

Trends In Intellectual Asset & IP Damages Litigation

Posted on March 08, 2006
The IP Blawg is pleased to welcome today's guest blogger, IP damages expert Alan Ratliff, with a summary of his article on developments in IP litigation damages. Historically, patent litigation is recognized for yielding more frequent and sizeable damage awards when compared to other forms of IP litigation, although there have certainly been some large copyright, trade secret and breach...

More Breaking News: BlackBerry Disputed Settled for $612.5M

Posted on March 03, 2006
It's been a busy week for hot-off-the-presses IP happenings! We've been diligent about keeping you posted on the BlackBerry litigation, and here's the latest: in news heard with relief by those addicted to their "crackberries," BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and NTP announced a settlement today of their long-simmering patent dispute...

Supreme Court Holds Patent Does Not Create Market Power

Posted on March 01, 2006
The Blawg report today covers breaking news: The U.S. Supreme Court?s decision ? announced a few hours ago ? holding that ownership of a patent does not automatically confer market power on the owner when an illegal tying arrangement is alleged. According to the unanimous ruling (with Justice Alito not participating) in Illinois Tool Works Inc...

Is Your Website Disability Accessible?

Posted on February 27, 2006
In a potentially ground-breaking case regarding the obligations of on-line businesses to make their sites accessible to persons with disabilities, the National Federation of the Blind filed a class action in state court in Alameda County, California, against Target Corporation on February 7, 2006...

Electronic Discovery: The IP Blawg Goes to the ABA Corporate Counsel Meeting

Posted on February 23, 2006
In case you weren?t in San Diego last week, you might have missed the meeting of the American Bar Association?s Corporate Counsel Committee of the Section of Litigation. But the IP Blawg was there ? and took advantage of several CLE programs. Many of our readers are undoubtedly interested in the proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure...

The Supreme Court Takes the Plunge On A Patent Case - Again

Posted on February 21, 2006
It was not so long ago that the U.S. Supreme Court would take on a patent case every two or three years. Perhaps in recognition of the growing importance of patents and in response to the much greater number of patent cases being filed, the Supreme Court will likely take on a more prominent role in shaping the patent laws...

PTO Tries To Clear Backlog

Posted on February 17, 2006
As has been well documented, the backlog of pending patent applications at the USPTO is increasing. In some areas of technology patent Applicants have received estimates that it will take over 6 years for the USPTO to issue a first office action for pending patent application...

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