IP & Technology Law Trends
All Articles
What is "Actual Notice"? The Federal Circuit Weighs in for Purposes of Pre-Issuance Patent Damages Under 35 U.S.C. 154(d)
Since 1999, U.S. patent law provides for pre-issuance patent damages of a reasonable royalty measured as far back as the date of the patent publication date (of the issued patent) if: (1) the published patent claims are substantially identical to the...
Continue Reading >
Justice Scalia and the Court's Patent Case Docket
The weekend's news about Justice Antonin Scalia's passing was a shocker. Justice Scalia always appeared so vigorous that he seemed much younger than his 79 years. His high level of legal scholarship was always on display. Justice Scalia was nothing i...
Continue Reading >
Government Concedes that Recent Federal Circuit Ruling on Registration of "Disparaging" Trademarks Applies to "Scandalous and Immoral" Marks As Well
Here's an update to my comment on In re Tam published a couple of weeks ago.
In a letter to a clerk for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the pending Trademark Office appellate case In re Brunetti (CAFC No. 2015-1109), the U.S. Departme...
Continue Reading >
Naughty or Nice, "Offensive" Trademarks Are Entitled to Registration: In re Tam
If you felt a rumble during the early hours of Tuesday, December 22, that was the earthquake touched off by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's holding that a long-debated and high profile portion of the nation's trademark law is unconstit...
Continue Reading >
Confusion over Initial Interest Confusion: Multi Time Machine v. Amazon.com
Multi Time Machine (“MTM”) sued Amazon.com for trademark infringement, claiming that when potential customers searched for MTM products on Amazon.com’s website, search results appeared for other products as Amazon.com does not sell MTM products. MTM...
Continue Reading >
Brexit & IP: Five Things You Should Know
Last night, in an election that had one of the largest voter turnouts in British history, a majority of UK citizens voted for the UK to exit the European Union. The ramifications of this vote are still being determined, but at least with respect to...
Continue Reading >