A question of law arose for a District Judge when a songwriter sued YouTube, claiming she never approved licensing her works to YouTube — whether the administration agreement's notice-and-consent clause was a condition precedent to the administrator's ability to license the songwriter's songs.
The change in character of social media, from purely social communication to a mixture of the social and commercial, has had knock-on effects for courts applying traditional legal principles, notably, the application of copyright law.
A key step to ensure that employers own their intellectual property is having employees sign agreements which assign to the employer all intellectual property created in the course of employment.
Patent Infringement and Trade Dress In the Ninth Circuit
"The Crypto Landscape Post-FTX," Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. ET, NY Cyber CLE credits available.
The Ninth Circuit held in VIP Prods. LLC v. Jack Daniel's Properties that VIP's "Bad Spaniels" dog toy mimicking the appearance of a Jack Daniels whisky bottle was protected expression under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court granted cert in November 2022 to consider the principal question whether humorous use of another's mark on a commercial product should be assessed under Rogers or the traditional multipart test of likelihood of confusion.
In Europe, the patent system is changing and will offer to companies a new patent protection and a new patent court. It should start in April 2023, with a sunrise period starting in January 2023.
Although your company may have an in-house IP attorney, your company may still need temporary help from an outside law firm to develop your company's patent portfolio and to solve your company's need for temporary help with minimal need for training and financial investment. If you do not have the budget to hire an in-house IP attorney, the solution is to try a secondment — an attorney from an outside law firm temporarily joins your in-house legal team as a "secondee" on a part-time or full-time basis.
Federal Circuit: Unpatentability Ruling In First IPR Estops Patentee In Second IPR of Related Patent Federal Circuit: A Disclaimer Made In a Pending IPR Is Not Binding In That Proceeding, But Is Binding In a Subsequent One
Copyright holders would be well advised to familiarize themselves with the Copyright Claims Board for resolving copyright infringement claims and to consider its benefits and potential downsides in bringing or defending copyright infringement actions.
