General IP News

In Re Outlaw Laboratory, LP Litig., No. 18-cv-840-GPC-BGS, 2019 WL 6497883 (S.D. Cal. Dec. 3, 2019)Outlaw is doing a pretty good job of establishing the previously contestable—and inconsistent with trademark law—rule that retailers aren’t liable for false advertising that appears on products they sell. One would think at least secondary ... Read More

Session 2: Legal Protection for DesignIntroduction: Chris Sprigman: what kinds of protection should be available depends on what the justifications for protection are. Incentives: requires us to ask about motivations of designers, the companies that employ them. Design of jet engines may not work the same as design of soda ... Read More

Session 3: Shaping an Overall Approach to ProtectionIntroductions: Jerry Reichman and Estelle Derclaye  In what ways should different forms of protection be tailored to various types of subject matter (construed legally as forms of intellectual property, but also subject matter construed socially or commercially)? How, if at all, should we ... Read More

I have just now gotten around to my notes from this excellent roundtable.Introduction: Mark McKenna & Graeme DinwoodieWhy do a roundtable like this? Putting together scholarly discussion for long-term outputs rather than particular works in the short term. Also developing a reading list/canon, which is particularly useful for design where ... Read More

Townsend Farms, Inc. v. United Juice Corp., --- Fed.Appx. ----, 2019 WL 6358780, No. 18-55067, No. 18-55068 (9th Cir. Nov. 27, 2019)Townsend included pomegranate arils supplied by Göknur in its Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend; some of those arils were contaminated with hepatitis A. After consumers of the frozen fruit ... Read More

I very much enjoyed Knives Out and recommend it even for non-copyright geeks, but I suspect that some of the despicable family members didn’t need to despair so much about being cut out of the patriarch’s will. Based on the description in the movie, the patriarch had transferred his copyrights ... Read More

Rami Levy is a leading supermarket chain. They produce a wide range of own-name products that are cheaper than the brand leaders and which they claim are of similar quality and taste. In the past, we’ve ... Read More

Zimbabwe: Lion Match Proprietary Limited is a South African company trading in Zimbabwe some years ago through a subsidiary, Lion Match Zimbabwe Limited (initially Lion Match Rhodesia Limited). The latter was sold including its trademark and goodwill and the Lion Match brand continued in the country first with both companies ... Read More

On the 1st of November 2019 and as reported by a broad spectrum of publications listed below, the Honeybush Rooibos and Honeybush Traditional Knowledge Benefit Sharing Agreement was signed. It accords Khoi and San communities with a one-year pilot providing them with a 1.5% benefit of the farm gate price ... Read More

In March 2019 Mauritius passed the Industrial Property Act (the Act). The Act promises to improve intellectual property systems and to facilitate ease of process in matters concerning this sector. It aligns Mauritian intellectual property law with international treaties such as the Madrid Protocol and the Hague Agreement. While signed ... Read More

The Copyright Amendment Bill of 2019 (CAB/the Bill) in South Africa raises many questions surrounding how this piece of pending legislation will function if it is passed into law in its current form. The Bill has caused much controversy among both creators and practitioners and it is important that parties ... Read More

I will be speaking on December 5 at NCCU on licensing and litigation during the trade war.  Here is the announcement (in Chinese): 人工智慧與網路治理」專題演講 : When IP Systems Collide: US-China Transnational IP Litigation and Licensing 主講人： Director Mark Cohen (柯桓主任) Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT), UC Berkeley (美國加州柏克萊大學科技與法律中心) ... Read More

Although it was anticipated that the cost of filing trademarks and designs in Egyptwould increase, this has been placed on hold. For more information and for assistance in filing and related matters, click here.In the recent matter of Sigma-Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite v Amina Limited, it was decided that international ... Read More

The Copyright Amendment Bill is a controversial piece of pending legislation that has led to much discord in the IP community. Many seem to think that it completely disharmonises the system of creation and control- one of the hallmarks of copyright law in national and international systems. With a world-first ... Read More

In April 2019, the office of the President of South Africa was petitioned not to sign the Copyright Amendment Bill into law. It was thought by some that the outcomes of the promulgation of this pending legislation would have devastating effects on creators of work as well as the economy ... Read More

The original patent for Viagra (Israel patent IL 98482) had very broad and sweeping claims that covered billions of molecules, only a small number of which cause blood vessel dilation that allows treatment of erectile dysfunction. Teva managed ... Read More

Following the appointment of a new Trademark Registrar, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has introduced some new practices relating to powers of attorney (PoA) that are effective since November 2019. The ... Read More

On November 24,  2019, the General Office of Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly released the Opinions Concerning Enhancing Intellectual Property Rights Protection (关于强化知识产权保护的意见). It is often too easy to dismiss documents like these, that have typically delivered an ephemeral higher state of vigilance by the Chinese ... Read More

The Judean Regional Council has successfully applied for and obtained an Appellation of Origin for wines grown in the region under the name Yehuda (– Judea). In a separate event that is perhaps related, the Psagot ... Read More

The Israel Patent Office and WIPO are hosting a seminar on the Hague Syatem for registering industrial designs internationally. The Event will be held on 18 December 2019 between 9 AM and 2 PM at Bet Hadar Dafna, ... Read More

Unilever PLC has applied for an Israel trademark for the  phrase ACTIVE SPORT for Soaps; perfumery, essential oils, cosmetics; colognes, eau de toilette, perfume body sprays; oils, creams and lotions for the skin; talcum ... Read More

Tang v. Guo, 2019 WL 6169940, No. 17 Civ. 9031 (JFK) (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2019)The previous complaint was dismissed for failure to sufficiently allege commercial speech; the court now finds it sufficiently alleged because the media defendant had a “donate” button and competes with the media plaintiff; query whether under ... Read More

The Ministry of Justice had published a draft of the Foreign Investment Law Implementing Regulations for public comment.  Chinalawtranslate has prepared an English translation of the proposed regulations and of the law itself.   The due date for submitting comments is December 1.  The US-China Business Council has graciously already made ... Read More

Yellowpages Photos, Inc. v. YP, LLC, 2019 WL 6033084, No: 8:17-cv-764-T-36JSS (M.D. Fla. Nov. 14, 2019)YPPI sued YP alleging infringement of YPPI’s copyrights, and sought disgorgement of the profits derived therefrom. Its expert, Brown, was offered to opine on whether revenue received from the sale of ads containing one or ... Read More

Legalforce RAPC Worldwide P.C. v. Glotrade, No. 19-CV-01538-LHK, 2019 WL 6036618 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 2019)Legalforce “offers services including trademark preparation and prosecution, patent preparation and prosecution, copyright registration and counseling, international trademark and patent filings, and corporate formation and stock and equity structuring.” Mailer companies allegedly “use publicly available ... Read More

Two more opinions here, one about the meaning of "origin" in 43(a)(1)(A) and one about the liability of retailers for false advertising and false designation of origin.Corker v. Costco Wholesale Corp., No. C19-0290RSL, 2019 WL 5895430 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 12, 2019)The difference in treatment of claims against retailers of third ... Read More

Peak Health Center v. Dorfman, 2019 WL 5893188, No. 19-cv-04145-VKD (N.D. Cal. Nov. 12, 2019)Peak allegedly sells plant-based pharmaceuticals and supplements, including an exclusive strain of Humulus yunnanensis, a hops plant, as a source of cannabidiol (CBD). This source of CBD is potentially valuable given the constraints on hemp and ... Read More

Right of publicity question of the day: leopard print shirt made of Ruth Bader Ginsburg portraits. Discuss.http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss ... Read More

In one of Israel’s larger copyright payout rulings, the father and son team that operated a pair of art galleries were ordered to pay 600,000 Shekels compensation and a further 200,000 Shekels ... Read More

Corker v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 2019 WL 5887340, No. C19-0290RSL (W.D. Wash. Nov. 12, 2019)Plaintiffs, coffee farmers in the Kona District of the Big Island of Hawaii, alleged that defendant Boyer’s falsely designates the geographic origin of its coffee products as “Kona,” prominently placing the word Kona on the front ... Read More