A search warrant is not required for law enforcement to use pen registers to record the IP addresses visited by a criminal suspect, a federal appeals court recently held. This follows a 1979 Supreme Court case, Smith v....more
In a decision last month, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals continued its recent trend of narrowing the fair use defense in copyright cases. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith involved a...more
5/7/2021
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Fine Art ,
Google LLC v Oracle America Inc ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Java ,
Oracle ,
Paintings Sculptures and Engravings ,
SCOTUS ,
Transformative Use
A federal judge in New York recently held that the First Amendment right to convey realism in video games can outweigh trademark rights.
Activision Blizzard makes one of the world’s most popular video games. Call of Duty...more
On September 20, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed a $600 million copyright infringement claim against the U.S. Navy. Bitmanagement Software GMBH v. United States involved virtual reality software that the Navy...more
11/15/2019
/ Contract Terms ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Dismissals ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Software ,
Software Developers ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
U.S. Navy ,
Unauthorized Transactions ,
Virtual Reality
The realism of video games is intensified by the inclusion of products and brands we recognize from daily life. Can the thrill of such verisimilitude coexist alongside the rights of trademark owners?...more
8/25/2019
/ Brand ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dilution ,
False Advertising ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Popular ,
Rogers Test ,
Trade Dress ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Ownership ,
Trademarks ,
Video Games
On March 21, MillerCoors—the maker of Miller Light and Coors Light— filed a complaint in federal court in Milwaukee for false advertising and trademark dilution against rival brewer Anheuser-Busch—the maker of Bud Light....more
6/12/2019
/ Anheuser-Busch ,
Beer ,
Comparative Advertising ,
Damages ,
Dilution ,
False Advertising ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Lanham Act ,
Loss of Goodwill ,
Lost Profits ,
MillerCoors ,
Misleading Statements ,
Trademark Infringement
The contact lens juggernaut 1-800-Contacts has long been aggressive about curbing competitors’ use of “1-800-Contacts” as an online search keyword. On November 17, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held that fourteen...more
2/27/2019
/ Advertising ,
Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Keyword Advertising ,
Keyword Search ,
Section 5 ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks