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20 Jun '14
Blog by Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee When President Obama last year announced a handful of executive actions to build a better patent system, one of those actions focused on improving clarity in patent claims. The president recognized that patents with clearly defined […]
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Adidas AG has sued Under Armour Inc. in Delaware federal court, claiming that Under Armour infringed 10 Adidas patents for a “location aware” fitness training system. The patents at issue were issued between 2007 and 2013 and include one for a “method of monitoring an individual’s performance during a physical activity with a portable performance […]
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In the alleged theft of trade secrets by individuals linked to companies funded by the Chinese government, an expert witness has testified that DuPont’s process for making titanium dioxide by chlorination was a closely guarded trade secret. Two men were convicted in federal court in California for trade secret theft. Robert Maegerle is a former […]
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17 Jun '14
Deputy Director Lee blogged about the status of the USPTO’s operating reserves. “I want to tell you more about our proposal to reduce total trademark fee collections. The reduction is possible due to efficiencies that have allowed the office to create an operating reserve. The proposed reduction maintains a reserve sufficient to manage operations and […]
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16 Jun '14
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Bloomberg’s unauthorized publication of a recording of an earnings call was fair use under US copyright law. In February of 2011, Swatch hosted a telephone conference and invited hundreds of securities analysts to discuss the company’s financial performance. Swatch arranged with a third party transcript service […]
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13 Jun '14
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. has filed copyright and trademark counterclaims against the producers of a Twilight parody film. The Twilight movie series, based on the hyper-popular novels by Stephanie Meyer, was produced by Lions Gate subsidiary Summit Entertainment and has earned over $3.3 billion worldwide. Between the Lines Productions LLC, producers of the spoof film […]
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A federal jury in Texas has found that Google’s license with a patent owner prohibits that patent owner from suing Google’s customers for infringement of the licensed patents. Beneficial Innovations Inc., a Las Vegas-based non-practicing entity (NPE), had sued Google and other defendants in 2007 and 2009 alleging infringement of Beneficial’s patents for online advertising. […]
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11 Jun '14
Pop music star Prince, known for hits such as “1999” and “When Doves Cry,” has dropped a copyright infringement lawsuit against 22 bloggers and Facebook users only weeks after he filed it. The artist had sought $1 million in damages from each defendant. He claimed the defendants had directed others to sites where they could […]
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10 Jun '14
The US Supreme Court has agreed to rule on whether the federal Lanham Act governs a case involving labeling of a product regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). POM Wonderful LLC and Coca-Cola Co. are engaged in a dispute over Coca-Cola’s labeling of a drink as “pomegranate blueberry juice.” The drink’s label says […]
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09 Jun '14
The US Supreme Court will allow the daughter of Frank Petrella to sue Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) for copyright infringement. Mr. Petrella was the author of a 1963 movie script called “The Raging Bull.” The case turned on the doctrine of “laches” – an “unreasonable delay pursuing a right or claim…in a way that prejudices the [opposing] […]
