June 27, 2014

On Wednesday, June 25, the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo violated copyright laws by publicly performing copyrighted works. Aereo is a startup whose business model revolves around recording broadcast television programming and storing the programming on their servers. The programming…

June 27, 2014

On Wednesday, June 18, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board canceled the “Redskins” mark in a 2-1 decision stating that it is “disparaging to Native Americans.” A similar case was filed in 1992 and was overturned by a federal district…

June 19, 2014

In the case of Lumen View Tech. LLC v. Findthebest.com, Inc. , the Southern District of New York has become the first court to hand down an opinion and order following the Supreme Court decision of Octane Fitness, LLC v.…

May 7, 2014

The Federal Circuit recently released its opinion for the case In re Packard, providing guidance as to when the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may properly reject a claim as failing to meet the definiteness requirements of 35…

May 2, 2014

Two recently decided Supreme Court cases have made it easier for a party to be granted attorney’s fees after winning a case. According to 35 U.S.C. §285, a court may award attorney’s fees to a winning party in “exceptional” cases.…

March 27, 2014

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced the initiation of a pilot program to study the effectiveness of glossaries in specifications of US patent applications. The program is part of an overall White House initiative aimed at improving…

December 11, 2013

On December 6, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about whether computer-implemented inventions are patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The case, Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, No. 13-298, involves computer technology…

November 15, 2013

35 U.S.C. § 154(b) allows for extension of patent term for design and utility patents filed after May 29, 2000. The statute provides for patent term adjustment for delays caused by the USPTO. “A Term” adjustments result from untimely responses…

September 25, 2013

Right before the August recess, both chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees committed to introducing omnibus patent reform bills addressing patent troll abuses when Congress returns in September. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte recently released a second draft…

May 14, 2013

In a recent case arising out of Indiana, the United States Supreme Court addressed the patent exhaustion doctrine in the context of seed patents. Monsanto sued Indiana farmer Vernon Bowman alleging infringement of its patents covering its Roundup Ready seed.…

April 19, 2013

Viacom, a major player in both television and film, recently lost another round in its long-running, landmark copyright litigation against YouTube. In yet another attempt to hold YouTube liable for sharing Viacom’s content on its site, Viacom alleged that YouTube…

April 8, 2013

In this year’s FIRST Robotics Crossroads Regional, robots designed and constructed by students of 50 high schools across seven Midwest states competed against one another in front of a crowd of more than 2,200 people. Armed with robots designed to…