On May 9, 2024, in Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a copyright owner is entitled to monetary relief for timely infringement claims — i.e., claims brought within the Copyright Act’s...more
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the petitioner in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International Inc. However, the justices were divided 5-4 as to the precise reasoning and what facts...more
7/7/2023
/ Abitron Austria GmbH v Hetronic International Inc ,
Appeals ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Foreign Sales ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Trademark Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Use in Commerce
Among the various types of AI-generated works that are being created and marketed nowadays are works that replicate the sound or visual images of specific artists. In many cases, these works, or the models or tools that...more
On June 8, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the petitioner in Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC. The Court held that a heightened standard for trademark infringement applied by many...more
6/13/2023
/ First Amendment ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Jack Daniels Properties Inc v VIP Products LLC ,
Lanham Act ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Parody ,
Rogers Test ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
On May 18, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the respondent copyright holder in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Lynn Goldsmith et al., No. 21-869, analyzing the Copyright Act’s first fair...more
5/22/2023
/ Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc v Goldsmith ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Derivative Works ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Fair Use ,
Machine Learning ,
SCOTUS ,
The Copyright Act ,
Transformativeness
On February 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. that the safe harbor provision concerning inaccurate information in copyright registrations, as set forth at 17 U.S.C. §...more
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States Patent and Trademark Office et al. v. Booking.com B.V. and resolved a circuit split by ruling that adding “.com” to the end of an otherwise generic name may...more
7/2/2020
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Appeals ,
Booking.com ,
Domain Name Registration ,
Domain Names ,
Generic Marks ,
Lanham Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com BV ,
USPTO
On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a circuit split, finding that any preclusion of litigation defenses must comply with traditional res judicata principles, and ruling that Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc. (Lucky...more
5/16/2020
/ Claim Preclusion ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Counterclaims ,
Defense Preclusion ,
Fashion Branding ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Lucky Brand Dungarees v Marcel Fashion Group ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Release Agreements ,
Res Judicata ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Subsequent Litigation ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
On April 27, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 590 U.S. ____, that pursuant to the “government edicts” doctrine, annotations to Georgia’s state code could not be...more
4/30/2020
/ Annotated Case Law ,
Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
Government Edicts Doctrine ,
Legislative Duties ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Code ,
The Copyright Act
On April 23, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a plaintiff is not required to prove that a defendant’s misconduct was willful in order to obtain an award of a defendant’s profits in trademark infringement...more
4/26/2020
/ § 1125(a) ,
§ 1125(c) ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Compensatory Awards ,
Dilution ,
Lanham Act ,
Lost Profits ,
Popular ,
Remand ,
Remedies ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Vacated ,
Willful Infringement
On March 23, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Allen v. Cooper, 589 U.S. ____, that the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 violated the 11th Amendment by purporting to authorize private copyright...more
3/24/2020
/ Abrogation ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Congressional Authority ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Eleventh Amendment ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Lack of Authority ,
Private Right of Action ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity
On December 11, 2019, in Peter v. NantKwest, Inc., 589 U.S. __ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision holding that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) cannot recover the salaries of its legal...more
12/14/2019
/ 35 U.S.C. § 145 ,
American Rule ,
Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Civil Claims ,
Fee-Shifting ,
Lanham Act ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Patent Act ,
Patent Applicants ,
Peter v NantKwest Inc ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 145 ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 decision in Iancu v. Brunetti, 588 U.S. ____ (2019), that Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act’s ban on the registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks violates the...more
6/26/2019
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Iancu v. Brunetti ,
Lanham Act ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
Scandalous/Immoral Marks ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Viewpoint Discrimination
On May 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 587 U.S. ___, that a debtor’s ability to reject executory contracts under Section 365(a) of the Bankruptcy Code does not...more
5/21/2019
/ Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Breach of Contract ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Exclusions ,
Executory Contracts ,
IP License ,
Mission Product Holdings Inc v Tempnology LLC ,
Rescission ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 365 ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Licenses ,
Trademarks ,
Trustees
On March 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two unanimous decisions interpreting the Copyright Act.
In Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC, 586 U.S. ___, the Court resolved a circuit split over when...more
3/5/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Applications ,
Copyright Exhaustion ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Registration ,
Damages ,
Expert Fees ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Popular ,
Prevailing Party ,
Reaffirmation ,
Remand ,
Remedies ,
Reversal ,
Rimini Street Inc v Oracle USA Inc ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
On June 28, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted petition for writ of certiorari in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s May 18,...more
7/2/2018
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Registration ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
On March 22, 2017, in a 6-2 decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., et al., 580 U.S. ___, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a design feature incorporated into a useful article may obtain copyright...more
3/23/2017
/ Cheerleaders ,
Copyright ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Fashion Design ,
Graphic Designs ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 101 ,
Separability ,
Star Athletica v Varsity Brands ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniforms ,
Utilitarian Function
On June 16, 2016, in an 8-0 decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 579 U.S. __, the U.S. Supreme Court held that when district courts determine whether or not to award discretionary attorney fees to prevailing...more