Newsletters

06.06.16

Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016: An Overview

The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) was signed into law on May 11, 2016 and gives trade secret owners a federal cause of action for injunctive relief and monetary damages for the misappropriation of trade secrets, while also providing employee protections.


04.18.16

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument Regarding Standard for Awarding Enhanced Damages in Patent Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the standard for awarding "enhanced" damages in patent cases (allowing a district court to increase damages up to three times the amount found or assessed) in the consolidated cases of Stryker Corp. v. Zimmer, Inc. and Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse ...


02.12.16

Both Sides Claim Victory in ITC Ruling re Converse's "Chuck Taylors"

On November 17, 2015, an International Trade Commission judge issued an initial ruling in In the Matter of Certain Footwear Products, the case brought by Converse in November 2014 against 31 companies for importing "look alike" footwear that infringed on Converse's iconic "Chuck ...


12.22.15

Down the Rabbit Hole: Trends in Software Patent Court Decisions Post-Alice

In Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, the U.S. Supreme Court held that claims for a computer-based software method for reducing financial-settlement risk were patent-ineligible "abstract ideas" that were not made patent-eligible merely by requiring the use of a computer for implementation.


07.31.13

Online Marketplace For “Used” Digital Music Strikes Discord With The Copyright Act

A recent decision out of New York illustrates the difficulty that courts in the digital era face in applying laws designed for a brick-and-mortar world.


06.27.13

Panel Calls For Litigation Reform To Address Patent Trolls

In a June 18, 2013, panel discussion titled “Trolls, Traders, and Wizards – Understanding the Market for Innovation,” the impact of the recently implemented America Invents Act (AIA), as well as the prospects for even more proposed patent reforms, was debated by leading jurists ...


05.29.13

Athletes’ Rights of Publicity Trump First Amendment in Video Game Context

In a recent 62-page decision by the Third Circuit—obviously intended to give guidance in an unclear area of the law—the rights of publicity of a college athlete in a video game trumped the First Amendment arguments of the video game manufacturer.


03.27.13

Policing the Internet for Copyright Infringement: An Owner’s Burden

Courts considering the perplexing copyright questions created by the Internet have been remarkably consistent in one area.


02.20.13

Mobile banking and the Federal Circuit's "divided infringement" decisions

The rapid growth of the mobile banking industry, the raft of litigation that has followed such growth, and why the Federal Circuit's much-anticipated "divided infringement" decisions in Akamai v. Limelight and McKesson v. Epic Systems have done little to provide clarity on a ...


01.14.13

Rights of Publicity: Contradictions in the Courts

The legal controversies over athletes' rights-of-publicity rage on. Two pending appellate decisions offer some hope that a rational conclusion might be in sight.