Intellectual Property Law | JD Supra Legal News, Updates, Analysis, & Information

Full Text Available of Settlement on Mechanical Royalties, as Copyright Royalty Board Seeks Comments

by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 5/21/2012

Last month, we wrote about the proposed settlement on "mechanical royalties" under Section 115 of the Copyright Act. These royalties are paid when "reproductions" are made of a musical composition. In the analog world, these...more

GSU Scores a Victory for Academic Fair Use in Landmark Copyright Case

by Ballard Spahr LLP on 5/21/2012

In a landmark decision on the nature of copyright law in the digital age, a federal judge in Atlanta has ruled in favor of officials at Georgia State University on nearly all the copyright infringement claims lodged by a trio...more

Brand Extensions That Significantly Expand Trademark Strength, Scope, and Risk

by Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. on 5/21/2012

As we have written before, any brand extension requires the necessary due diligence to mitigate the risk of a serious trademark conflict. And, from a trademark perspective, both strength and scope of rights necessarily expand...more

Patents County Court: Case Management Directions

by Jane Lambert on 5/20/2012

Case management conferences are very important in Patents County Court litigation. They present the only opportunity to stay an action or transfer it to another court. They are the occasion when the court decides the...more

Franchise Review - May 2012: Franchising in Quebec

by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on 5/18/2012

When venturing into Quebec it’s important to be familiar with the Québec Charter of French Language (the Charter), which establishes French as the official language of Quebec and governs use of the French language in a broad...more

gTLD Launch: An Update on the TAS Interruption

by Mintz Levin - Intellectual Property on 5/18/2012

As previously posted, ICANN’s TLD application system (“TAS”) has been plagued by a “technical glitch ” that has caused the online application system for new generic top level domains (gTLDs) to be taken offline in order to...more

In re Baxter International, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2012)

by McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP on 5/18/2012

In a dissent from the Federal Circuit's affirmance of a Board determination of obviousness, Judge Newman raises a jurisdictional and separation-of-powers argument in In re Baxter International, Inc. that is destined to be...more

Federal Circuit Addresses Recapture Rule in Patent Reissue Proceedings

by K&L Gates LLP on 5/18/2012

In its May 8 opinion In re Youman, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit bolstered the utility of reissue proceedings as a means to broaden the scope of claims of issued U.S. patents. The Federal Circuit adopted a...more

RIP MCA: Beastie Boys Sued for Sampling [Video]

by Bloomberg Law on 5/18/2012

May 18 (Bloomberg Law) -- On May 4, Adam Yauch – better known as MCA of the Beastie Boys – died at 47 after a battle with cancer, but his legal legacy lives on. The day before his death, the group was sued in federal...more