General IP News

Miller v. Peter Thomas Roth, LLC, 2020 WL 363045, No. C 19-00698 WHA (N.D. Cal. Jan. 22, 2020)OK, he doesn’t say so outright, but wait for the bit about the in-court demonstration he expects.Defendants PTR Labs sell “specialty skincare products,” here the Rose Stem Cell and Water Drench product lines. ... Read More

I am honored to be named to the inaugural IAM Global Leaders list, a new publication featuring interviews with patent pratitioners ranked in the gold tier of the IAM Patent ... Read More

As of August 2019 the USPTO implemented a rule requiring Foreign Domiciled Applicants and Registrants to have a U.S. licensed attorney. Here is an excerpt from ... Read More

Luxottica Group S.p.A. v. The Partnerships & Unincorporated Assocs. Identified on Schedule “A,” No. 18 C 2188, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 4, 2019) (Gottschall, J.). Judge Gottschall denied plaintiff Luxottica’s motion for reconsideration that defendants were not properly served as to all but one defendant in this counterfeiting case ... Read More

How much will the IP Sections of the Phase 1 Agreement (the “Agreement”) with China change  IP strategies in China?   For the most part, the Agreement adds much less than its appearance might suggest.  Many of the important changes that the Agreement memorializes have recently been codified into law or ... Read More

The 8th Best Practices in Intellectual Property is being held on MARCH 23rd & 24th. As always, it is at the Sheraton Tel Aviv. This conference provides amazing value for money, and has a dedicated following of leading in-house counsel and patent attorneys that come back year after year, including ... Read More

On January 22, 2020, from 5:30-9:00 pm ET, the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago’s (IPLAC) Young Members’ Committee and Chicago-Kent’s Intellectual Property Law Society is hosting a CLE program regarding IP issues in the evolving recreational cannabis industry in Illinois. The event featured speakers include: Nicole Cosby of Fyllo; ... Read More

This decision related to a request to cancel a trademark registered in Israel by a third party, allegedly with bad faith. The case is complicated by the fact that parties in question live in the Palestinian Authority and ... Read More

2020 Junior Faculty ForumHosted by Stanford, Harvard, and Yale Law SchoolsRequest for SubmissionsStanford, Yale, and Harvard Law Schools announce the 21st session of the Junior Faculty Forum to be held at Stanford Law School on June 1-2, 2020 and seek submissions forits meeting.The Forum’s objective is to encourage the work ... Read More

AfroIP is delighted to announce that the South African Research Chair in IP, Innovation and Innovation(Research Chair is held by fellow blogger, Professor Caroline Ncube) is hosting a launch event for Dr. Chijioke Okorie's (aka AfroLeopa's) new book, Multi-sided Music Platforms and the Law: Copyright, Law and Policy in Africa. ... Read More

UIC John Marshall’s Center for Intellectual Property, Information and Privacy has another excellent program, this one focuses on two key copyright issues – fair use and copyright data protection. Every practitioner can use some time working through the complexities of fair use. This program promises to be excellent. It will ... Read More

Bad Boyfriend LLC owned Israel Registered Trademark No. 241702 for BAD BOYFRIEND. The mark covers cosmetics, soaps, perfume, fragrances, non-medical skin and face formulations   and hair formulations. The trademark application was submitted in October 2011 and ... Read More

Pegasystems, Inc. v. Appian Corp., 2020 WL 137301, No. 19-11461-PBS (D. Mass. Jan. 13, 2020)Following on its denial of a motion to dismiss, the court denied a motion for preliminary injunction in this false advertising case. Because the alleged falsity depended on a supposedly independent review being paid for and ... Read More

Rehco, LLC v. Spin Master, Ltd., No. 13 C 2245, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 28, 2019) (Blakey, J.). Judge  Blakey granted defendant Spin Master’s motion for supplemental claim construction and for summary judgment in this patent case involving remote control toy vehicles. The Court previously construed the terms, but ... Read More

Belcher Pharms., LLC v. Hospira, Inc., -- F. Supp. 3d --, No. 8:17-cv-2353-T-30AAS, 2020 WL 102744 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 7, 2020) “Epinephrine—a drug that is a medical necessity—has been in short supply on and off for nearly a decade.” Hospira has made epinephrine since before 1938, so Hospira is “arguably” ... Read More

Pamela Samuelson, Good Legal Writing: of Orwell and WindowPanes From the archives: Excellent short piece on legal writing, for students and other legal writers of all kinds.  In itself, interesting to see how a groundbreaking female academic framed things in 1984, including the advice not to use “she” as the generic ... Read More

AMETEK CTS US, Inc. v. Advanced Test Equipment Corp., No.19-cv-02348-H-AHG, 2020 WL 133888 (S.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2020)The parties operate in the market for “sophisticated electronic instruments in the automotive, telecommunications, energy, aerospace, power, research, medical and industrial markets.” AMETEK sells directly to consumers and also distributes its products through ... Read More

Joined by a number of able trademark scholars, I filed this amicus brief in Booking.com in support of neither party, arguing that (1) genericness standards need to take into account the risks of overassertion/overprotection, and (2) unfair competition doctrine provides relief for deceptive uses of even generic terms, but does ... Read More

Like everyone else, I filed an amicus, this one on behalf of copyright scholars, focused on fair use. Other currently submitted briefs are here.http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss ... Read More

Flair Airlines, Ltd. v. Gregor LLC, No. 18 C 2023, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 25, 2019) (Guzman, J.). Judge Guzman denied plaintiff Flair Airlines’ (“Flair”) Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 motion for summary judgment  because of “numerous disputed facts” in this cybersquatting and related state law claims case involving ... Read More

Reading list: Aaron Stenz, Note: The Controversial Demise of Zauderer: Revitalizing Zauderer Post-NIFLA, 104 Minn. L. Rev. 553 (2019).The First Amendment broadly stands for the idea that government attempts to curtail the right of the American people to both speak and not speak should be viewed with the utmost skepticism. ... Read More

Malibu Media, L.L.C. v. Doe, No. 18 C 450, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 5, 2019) (Ellis, J.). Judge Ellis denied Doe defendant’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) & (f) motion to dismiss and to strike plaintiff Malibu Media’s copyright infringement complaint in this BitTorrent dispute. The Court previously dismissed ... Read More

Enigma Software Group USA, LLC v. Malwarebytes, Inc., --- F.3d ----, 2019 WL 7373959, No. 17-17351 (9th Cir. Dec. 31, 2019)New opinion, same result; no rehearing en banc. Because the parties are competitors, §230 does not provide Malwarebytes with immunity for blocking Enigma’s software. As the dissent notes, one may ... Read More

Orange Lake Country Club, Inc. v. Reed Hein & Assoc., LLC, 2019 WL 7423517, No: 6:17-cv-1542-Orl-78DCI (M.D. Fla. Oct. 4, 2019)Another timeshare case, this one kicking out Lanham Act claims but not FDUTPA deceptive practices claims on proximate cause. Defendant TET allegedly puts out false and misleading advertisements, leading owners ... Read More

The Corporate Committee of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (“IPLAC”) is hosting a fireside chat with Patent Office Director Andrei Iancu on January 16, 2020 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm CT. Registration is free. Please contact SRAM’s Billie Hinen to register by January 9, 2020. ... Read More

Israel trademark no. 264763 to Isaac Hadad is shown alongside. The mark covers goods in Class 3 as follows: Cosmetic soaps; cream soaps; liquid soaps; perfumed soaps; soaps for body care; soaps for personal use; essential oils; cosmetic ... Read More

Cypress Advisors, Inc. v. Davis, 2019 WL 7290948, No. 17-cv-01219-MSK-KLM (D. Colo. Aug. 28, 2019)Cypress provides financial advice to clients in the franchise restaurant industry. Defendant Kent Davis used to work there, but he left and started a competing business, C2.  I’ll focus on the false advertising claims.First, the allegedly ... Read More

Becerra v. Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., 2019 WL 7287554, No. 18-16721 (9th Cir. Dec. 30, 2019)Becerra alleged that Dr Pepper violated the usual California consumer-fraud laws by branding Diet Dr Pepper using the word “diet.” She cited dictionary definitions to support her allegation that reasonable consumers understand the word “diet” ... Read More

Creditors Relief LLC v. United Debt Settlement LLC, 2019 WL 7288978, No. 17-7474 (D.N.J. Dec. 30, 2019)Plaintiff CR is a New Jersey-based debt settlement company that has allegedly “received significant publicity and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.” Defendant Marcel Bluvstein, a New York resident, is a principal ... Read More

Brian Wolfman filed this amicus, which I drafted, on behalf of a number of Lanham Act professors. It involves a false advertising case with a number of moving parts; the amicus addresses only the court's opportunity to correct the mistaken reasoning of In re GNC, a consumer protection case that ... Read More