All Checked Out – CJEU Decides on e-Lending of Books by Libraries As previously discussed on this very blog, the issue of e-lending has come up in the European courts recently, specifically relating to whether…
Trump Wins Major Trademark Battle in China IPNews® – Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have scored a victory in the attempts to register the Trump trademark across numerous categories in China. After numerous…
A New Era – What Does the Donald Trump Presidency Potentially Mean for IP? Now that the dust has settled in the long and arduous process that is the American presidential race, it is time…
Ringing Hollow – Ringtone Trademark Rejected by EU General Court Since the introduction of the new Trade Mark Regulation No 2015/2424, this writer for one has been awaiting the inevitable landslide of unusual trademark registrations,…
Ohio State Accuses CafePress of Trademark Infringement IPNews® – Ohio State University has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in federal court in Columbus, Ohio against CafePress. The Lawsuit claims that CafePress is using the university’s…
The Last Time the Cubs Won … There Was Plenty of IP Around A whole lot has changed in intellectual property since 1908, but some core questions—such as making sure the rights of musical composers are…
White House urges restrictions on non-compete agreements This week the Obama administration issued a “call to action” statement in which it urged state governments to restrict many of the non-compete agreements that employers often impose on…
Will your patent assignment document satisfy new European Patent Office requirements? Effective November 1, 2016, new European Patent Office (EPO) Examination Guidelines governing the transfer of European patent applications will take effect. The new Guidelines make two changes that transacting…
Federal Circuit invalidates three software patents; Judge Mayer calls for ban on all software patents In the past few months, the Federal Circuit reversed a two-year trend of overturning software patents by publishing three decisions that outlined…
Federal Circuit: results are ineligible for patenting, but processes for achieving a result can be eligible The Federal Circuit continued to refine the boundaries of patent-eligibility of software in 2016 with a new decision, McRO, Inc….
DNC Cuts Ties With ‘Donald Ducks’ Donald Ducks could pose trademark and copyright issues by running afoul of Disney’s intellectual property rights The article was originally posted on WSJ as DNC Cuts Ties With ‘Donald…
Trader Joe’s vs. Pirate Joe’s: Appeals Court Revives Cross-Border Trademark Fight Arrrrr! For Pirate Joe’s, that could sum up a ruling handed down Friday by a federal appeals court in California. The article was originally…
DNC’s Anti-Trump Mascot ‘Donald Ducks’ May Run Afoul of Trademark Protections Is DNC’s “Donald Ducks” waddling on intellectual property rights? The article was originally posted on WSJ as DNC’s Anti-Trump Mascot ‘Donald Ducks’ May Run…
Pioneering Patent Lawyer Raymond Niro Dead at 73 Raymond P. Niro, one of the country’s most feared and influential patent litigators, died Monday at the age of 73. The article was originally posted on WSJ…
As Hop Puns Run Dry, Craft Beer Trademark Litigation Heats Up In the crowded craft beer industry, finding unique new beer names is a challenge, and breweries aren’t afraid to sue to defend the names…
Sam Adams Brewer Seeks to Trademark ‘Brexit’ Brexit may not just be historic. It could soon be alcoholic. The article was originally posted on WSJ as Sam Adams Brewer Seeks to Trademark ‘Brexit’. Each article…
Federal Circuit finds Internet content filtering patent eligible after Alice For the second time in two months, the Federal Circuit has issued a decision that describes a situation in which a software invention can be eligible for…
How Not to Get Sued Over Your ‘Star Trek’ Movie Paramount and CBS, which own the copyrights to “Star Trek”, have released fan-fiction guidelines for avoiding copyright challenges. The article was originally posted on WSJ…
This blog started in June 2009. It is still hard for me to wrap my head around that fact. Seven years and 185 posts later, it is still here (though a bit dormant I admit). A lot…
Sucampo, AG v. Dr. Reddy’s Labs., Inc. (D.N.J. Mar. 4, 2016) It is common in patent litigation for patent holders to request claim terms be given their “plain meaning” by the Court without further clarification…