Features

AI Can Facilitate Innovation, But It Can Also Become a Potent Patent Killer
When is an inventor not an inventor? It's when the inventor isn't human. So, if a non-human inventor can't, in the eyes of patent law, be an inventor, what role can the non-human inventor have in the patent system? The answer is straightforward. Even though it can't create, it can destroy.
Features

Hope for 'Spotify Model' for Licensing Content for AI
A "Spotify model" of licensing, regulation and royalties could be the answer to the recent slew of lawsuits and future litigation relating to generative artificial intelligence defined by rampant misappropriation of name, image and likeness of individuals, including high-profile celebrities.
Features

Patent Your Trade Secrets In Wake of Noncompete Ban
While it may be growing more difficult to protect business information with the FTC's noncompete ban, patents can provide strong protection over technical innovations, regardless of whether the inventor stays with the company or leaves.
Columns & Departments
Fresh Filings
Notable recent court filings in entertainment law.
Features

Plans for New CA State Bar Exam Still In the Works, Despite IP Concerns
The State Bar of California's plans to launch a new state bar exam are still in the works even though Kaplan North America, which had been chosen to develop the exam, recently asked to withdraw from participating, citing intellectual property concerns raised by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
Columns & Departments
IP News
Federal Circuit Sitting en banc Overrules Long-standing Test for Assessing Obviousness of Design Patents and Adopts the Same Framework Established for Utility Patents Federal Circuit Affirms District Court's Grant of §285 Fees Request for Fees Incurred in Litigation and Denial of Fees Request for Fees Incurred In a Parallel IPR Proceeding
Features

LJN Quarterly Update: 2024 Q1
Highlights some of the in-depth analysis and insights from lawyers and other practice area experts from the nine LJN Newsletters titles over the first quarter of 2024.
Features

Trade Secret Protection Plans Provide Certainty to Employers
The protection of trade secrets has long been understood to be a legitimate business interest, and, traditionally, companies have used non-competition clauses to protect their trade secrets. Now, with non-competition agreements in doubt and facing greater scrutiny, companies will need to rely on other protection mechanisms.
Features

Federal Circuit Overrules 'Rosen-Durling' Test for Design Patent Obviousness
The downfall of the Rosen-Durling test will generally make it harder to obtain design patents and easier to invalidate design patents.
Features

Lessons Learned Through the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's Legal Experience and Advancement Program
To help prepare practitioners for oral advocacy before the PTAB, the USPTO offers free training on all aspects of conducting arguments before the PTAB, including how to improve oral advocacy, use of demonstratives, effective use of hearing time, decorum, logistics of an oral hearing, and more.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.Read More ›
- Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the RoughThere is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.Read More ›
- Do FL and CA Talent Agency Law Cover Social Media Influencers and Esports Talent?If the definition for "artist" under Florida's Talent Agencies Act applies to influencers and esports players, then likely a lot of unlicensed representatives are in violation of the state's statute — and the penalties are pretty serious.Read More ›
- Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About ItWhy is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›