Intellectual Property Law

Arkansas lawyer is reprimanded over use of private investigators who misrepresented themselves

Updated: An Arkansas lawyer has been reprimanded in South Carolina for sending private investigators into the state to pose as customers and gather evidence of intellectual property infringement. The South Carolina Supreme Court reprimanded lawyer Cecil Duff Nolan Jr. in a Feb. 15 opinion (PDF), the Legal Profession Blog reports.…

Feb 21, 2017 7:00 AM CST

DC court enjoins Public.Resource.org from printing public safety regulations online

A federal judge in Washington D.C. has sided with three major standards-development organizations seeking to prevent Public.Resource.org from printing their technical and scientific guidelines online. Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites reported that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a permanent injunction earlier this month, against Public.Resource.org in favor…

Feb 14, 2017 5:52 PM CST

ABA amicus brief opposes expansive view of venue in patent cases, cites perception of forum shopping

The ABA has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that argues the patent venue law has been wrongly interpreted in a way that allows the nationwide filing of patent infringement suits. The expansive interpretation, the brief says, has ironically led to a concentration of patent suits in…

Feb 7, 2017 3:03 PM CST

Fastcase refiles suit against Casemaker over right to publish Georgia regulations

Fastcase has filed a revised federal lawsuit against its competitor Casemaker over the right to publish Georgia’s administrative rules and regulations after a federal court tossed the earlier suit on jurisdictional grounds. The new suit (PDF) adds details on why the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, part of Fastcase’s bid…

Feb 7, 2017 9:42 AM CST

Original ‘patent troll’ law firm has closed its doors

On the heels of the sudden death last August of Raymond Niro Sr., the passionate litigator for whom the term “patent troll” was coined, the Chicago-based Niro Law firm broke apart earlier this month, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. Four partners from the then-13-lawyer firm are starting a new firm called…

Jan 27, 2017 3:20 PM CST

Fastcase suit booted from federal court because Casemaker lacks copyright on Georgia regulations

An Atlanta federal court dismissed a lawsuit Fastcase brought against its competitor Casemaker, arguing that Casemaker’s parent company, Lawriter, has no copyright on the Georgia state regulations at issue. Lawriter has a contract with the Georgia Secretary of State to publish the Georgia Administrative Rules and Regulations, Law360 (sub. req)…

Jan 27, 2017 12:10 PM CST

Paul McCartney suit seeks to regain copyright interest in early songs

Paul McCartney is seeking a declaratory judgment that he is entitled to reclaim copyright interest in his early songs under termination provisions of the Copyright Act. McCartney filed the suit in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, report the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter and the National Law Journal (sub.…

Jan 20, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Does litigation database belong to law firm or clients? Suit against ex-partners raises the issue

A Boston law firm and six former partners are battling in court over rights to databases for the firm’s asbestos and toxic tort cases. The Governo Law Firm and name partner David Governo contend in a lawsuit that the partners took proprietary databases that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars…

Jan 19, 2017 11:46 AM CST

Supreme Court appears skeptical of law barring registration of disparaging trademarks

A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared receptive to arguments by a dance-rock band that is challenging the federal ban on registration of disparaging trademarks. The Asian-American band, the Slants, claims the ban amounts to viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment. A majority of the Supreme…

Jan 18, 2017 4:44 PM CST

Supreme Court to hear case that affects how quickly biosimilar drugs are marketed

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case that could resolve how quickly patients will have access to copycat versions of biologic drugs. At issue is whether companies that make the copycat drugs, known as “biosimilars,” must wait six months after getting federal approval to begin marketing…

Jan 13, 2017 3:15 PM CST

Chemerinsky: Free speech on the SCOTUS docket

The January oral argument calendar includes two major cases about freedom of speech. Although they arise in quite different contexts, they each raise questions of how far the First Amendment extends to limit government regulation. Lee v. Tam Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a), provides that no…

Jan 5, 2017 8:30 AM CST

New York law does not give copyright protection to older recordings, state top court rules

New York’s top court has ruled that state law does not protect copyright holders of sound recordings made before 1972, the year that federal copyright law began to offer protection. The New York Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday in a case brought by a corporation owned by two original…

Dec 20, 2016 12:09 PM CST

$2.5B verdict is largest patent infringement award in US history; will award be tripled?

Jurors awarded $2.54 billion to a unit of Merck & Co. last week in a suit alleging its patented compound was used by Gilead Sciences Inc. to make the hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni. Jurors upheld the patent on behalf of Merck’s Idenix unit and found the infringement was…

Dec 19, 2016 10:36 AM CST

Lawyers who pursued porn downloaders are indicted for alleged ‘extortionate tactics’

Two lawyers sanctioned by a federal judge for “abusive” copyright litigation against porn downloaders have been indicted for allegedly using sham clients to disguise that they owned the companies seeking damages for copyright infringement. The lawyers, John Steele and Paul Hansmeier, were charged an indictment made public on Friday, report…

Dec 19, 2016 9:51 AM CST

SCOTUS overturns Apple’s $399M award against Samsung for smartphone infringement

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned a $399 million award to Apple for Samsung’s infringement of three smartphone design components because of an error in interpreting the damages statute. In a unanimous decision (PDF) for Samsung by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court said the U.S. Court of Appeals for…

Dec 6, 2016 11:11 AM CST