TWO GUNS, BUT ONLY ONE BULLET, OR, ONCE IN IPR, DO NOT SAVE YOUR ARGUMENTS FOR LITIGATION A patent can be challenged in court as a defense to an infringement action or through an administrative proceeding before the U.S....more
Forum selection provisions appear (or are at least proposed) in all types of agreements and often provoke disagreement in negotiations because of the potential for a real or perceived strategic advantage of a particular court...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that certain types of inadvertent mistakes will not void a copyright registration. In an opinion published February 24, 2022, the Court held lack of either factual or legal knowledge can...more
From Supreme Court headlines, to big brand disputes, to the year of cautionary tales, 2019 proved to be another remarkable year for intellectual property law. With so many notable developments in trademark, copyright, and...more
On March 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two unanimous opinions interpreting provisions of the Copyright Act. In the first case, the Court decided that the Copyright Office must register a copyright before a copyright...more
3/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Registration ,
Expert Fees ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Rimini Street Inc v Oracle USA Inc ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
From big name brawls, to new legislation, to the year of inter partes review, 2018 was a hallmark year for intellectual property law. With so many interesting and informative updates, 2018 has set the bar high for 2019. Let’s...more
In this podcast, McNees Wallace & Nurick attorney Shawn Leppo discusses the fundamentals of patent infringement....more
Trademark Law -
Let Them Register Offensive Trademarks! -
In June of 2017, in Matal v. Tam, the Supreme Court held that the disparagement clause of the federal Lanham Act violates the Free Speech Clause of the First...more
In its most recent foray into patents, the Supreme Court continued its recent line of decisions interpreting laws to limit the international reach of U.S. intellectual property protection. The holding can be summarized in...more
The year 2016 saw interesting and diverse developments in trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent law. Not only has intellectual property news been in the headlines, but these areas have made it to the Supreme Court....more
1/30/2017
/ Apple v Samsung ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
First Amendment ,
Halo v Pulse ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Young Lawyers
In a December 6, 2016 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered the latest decision in the long-running war over smartphones between industry and cultural titans, Apple and Samsung. While many might have hoped for a clarifying...more
On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Federal Circuit’s current standard for awarding enhanced patent damages, finding it too rigid and inconsistent with the enhanced damages statute, 35 U.S.C. §284. As...more
6/14/2016
/ 35 U.S.C. § 284 ,
Abuse of Discretion ,
Enhanced Damages ,
Halo v Pulse ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard of Proof ,
Standard of Review ,
Stryker v Zimmer ,
Willful Infringement
In a rare instance in which all judges participated, the Federal Circuit issued a ruling earlier this month, in Lexmark International, Inc. v. Impression Products, Inc., on the legal issue of patent exhaustion for both...more
On May 18, 2015, a panel of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling strengthening broad design patent protection in the long-running legal battle between Apple and Samsung over their competing smartphones,...more
The year 2014 saw some important developments in the area of intellectual property law. A number of intellectual property-related issues even made national headlines.
Who can forget the public debate over the rightful...more
2/20/2015
/ Advertising ,
Aereo ,
Broadcasting ,
Coca Cola ,
Copyright ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Labeling ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Garcia v Google ,
Google ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Lanham Act ,
Merck ,
Music Industry ,
NFL ,
Nutritional Supplements ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
POM Wonderful ,
POM Wonderful v Coca Cola ,
Popular ,
Redskins ,
SiriusXM ,
Standing ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
On June 2, 2014, the Supreme Court decided two closely-watched patent cases, unanimously reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and making it easier to defend some claims of patent infringement....more
6/5/2014
/ Akamai Technologies ,
Appeals ,
Claim Construction ,
Direct Infringement ,
En Banc Review ,
Indefiniteness ,
Induced Infringement ,
Limelight Networks ,
Miniauction ,
Nautilus Inc. v. Biosig Instruments ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS
Quentin Tarantino's case could ultimately turn on one little word at the end of Gawker's story...more
In its first intellectual property ruling of the current term, the Supreme Court unanimously held on January 22, 2014 in Medtronic, Inc. v. Mirowski Family Ventures LLC that a patentee always bears the burden of proving...more