The Southern District of New York recently issued an opinion that held the Internet Archive, an organization whose professed mission is to provide universal access to all knowledge, infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights when it scanned print copies of books and offered free digital copies to users of its website without the copyright owners’ permission. » Read More
Sometimes money alone is not enough to compensate an aggrieved party for certain wrongdoings. In these cases, courts may elect to award injunctive relief, a type of equitable remedy imposed to restrain a party from doing certain acts or to require a party to act in a specific manner. » Read More
Last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) ruled that only human beings may qualify as inventors of patentable inventions. See Thaler v. Vidal, Appeal No. 2021-2347 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 5, 2022). In the case at issue, computer scientist Stephen Thaler developed an artificial intelligence system for which he coined the name “DABUS” (“Device for Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Science”), and which is the “creativity machine” named as the sole inventor on patent applications for a food container and a light beacon. » Read More
“It seems our diamond requires a closer inspection,” famously says the fictional character Lady Whistledown of Regency-era London’s most beautiful debutante in Bridgerton (Season One). Bridgerton, for the uninitiated, is the Netflix hit series based on historical romance novels by Julia Quinn. » Read More
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently shed light on the legal status of the hemp-derived cannabinoid known as delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (“delta-8 THC”) and its implications for cannabis brand owners. Delta-8 THC is a psychoactive compound typically manufactured from hemp-derived cannabidiol. » Read More
The Supreme Court’s imminent decision in the Warhol matter will determine whether a series of Andy Warhol prints created from a Lynn Smith photograph of music legend Prince infringes Smith’s copyright. The Court will either provide valuable guidance, or further confuse the analysis, of fair use under the Copyright Act. » Read More
Following on from Matal v. Tam striking down the prohibition on the registration of trademarks containing derogatory terms and phrases (in that case, THE SLANTS) and Iancu v. Brunetti striking down the prohibition on the immoral and scandalous matter (in that case, FUCT) on the basis of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, the Federal Circuit has struck another long-standing limit on what trademarks can be registered. » Read More
The recent decision in SRI International, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. is another in a line of cases involving the federal court’s handling of the issues of willful infringement and enhanced damages, but it is actually a case about how parties handle the language in their jury instructions. » Read More
What is fair use? And why is this common defense to copyright infringement cases being more narrowly interpreted by the courts? And what does Andy Warhol have to do with it anyway? » Read More
The Supreme Court of the United States recently held in the case of Minerva Surgical, Incorporated v. Hologic, Incorporated that the doctrine of assignor estoppel (a rule that prevents people who assign their patents to a company from then challenging the validity of their patent) is alive and well, but subject to certain important exceptions. » Read More
