News

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 22, 2020, revived a copyright suit brought by writers Arthur Lee Alfred II and Ezequiel Martinez Jr. and producer Tova Laiter alleging that Walt Disney Co. ripped off a screenplay for the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 17, 2020, dismissed American fast casual pizza restaurant &pizza’s copyright suit against the operator of the “@pizza” restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, because it failed to show that @pizza violated their copyright and that the restaurant would harm their US commerce.

The new report updates the previous findings based on a review of an additional nearly one million issued patents and three years of new data, and it provides further insights into the participation of women in America’s intellectual property systems.

Patent Center is a new tool for electronic filing and management of patent applications in a single, unified interface.

A photograph of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen displayed without permission on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s (Met) “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll” online exhibition did not violate copyright law because its use was for historical purposes and was therefore protected by the fair use exception, said the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 14, 2020.

A Nobel Prize winner’s fellow researchers must be named on his cancer immunotherapy patents, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on July 14, 2020.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has published the sixth installment of its Motion to Amend Study.

The Copyright Office is further extending the temporary adjustments to certain timing provisions under the Copyright Act for persons affected by the COVID-19 national emergency.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 10, 2020, affirmed the invalidation of Toyota Motor Corp.’s patent on a coating for reducing the appearance of fingerprints on touchscreen displays. Toyota Motor Corp. v. Reactive Surfaces Ltd., Fed. Cir., No. 18-1906, unpublished 7/10/20.

Google’s Youtube cannot be required to hand over the IP addresses, telephone numbers, or email addresses of its users who have uploaded copyright-infringing films to its platform, the Court of Justice of the European Union held on July 9, 2020. C‑264/19, Constantin Film Verleih GmbH v YouTube LLC and Google Inc., 2020 E.C.R.

The Federal Circuit on July 1, 2020, said that a Florida federal court failed to properly consider a patent owner’s history of frivolous litigation when it denied a request for attorneys’ fees from the owner’s latest target. Elec. Commc’n Techs LLC v. ShoppersChoice.com LLC, Fed. Cir., No. 19-2087, 7/1/20.

The Fifth Circuit on June 2, 2020, ruled that Digital Drilling Data Systems can’t pursue copyright claims against a competitor that scraped data from a program built using an open source database, because the program wasn’t effectively secured, and the copied program wasn’t substantially similar. Digital Drilling Data Syst. v. Petrolink Serv. Inc., 5th Cir., No. 19-20116, 7/2/20.

The Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) on July 6, 2020, issued a new decision regarding when the Board can raise new arguments in deciding a motion to amend. Hunting Titan, Inc. v. DynaEnergetics Europe GmbH, IPR2018-00600 (PTAB July 6, 2020) (Paper 67).

The Federal Circuit on July 2, 2020, affirmed Hulu LLC‘s successful challenge to the validity of a database management patent at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Sound View Innovations LLC v. Hulu LLC, Fed. Cir., No. 19-1865, unpublished 7/2/20.

Senator Tillis speaks on his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary IP Subcommittee, the need for strong intellectual property protection, Section 101 reform, DMCA review, oversight over the USPTO and the Copyright Office, and more.

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the addition of “.com” to a generic term can create a protectable trademark, affirming a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., U.S., No. 19-46. In doing so, the Court rejected the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) "nearly per se rule" that when a generic term is combined with a generic top-level domain the resulting combination is generic.

The Ninth Circuit on June 22, 2020, reversed a district court’s dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit against the award-winning movie “The Shape of Water”, finding that David Zindel adequately alleged that Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. copied aspects of his father’s play. Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc., 9th Cir., No. 18-56087.

The US Copyright Office on June 23, 2020, released an updated version of Copyright Law of the United States and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 16, 2020, affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) win by videogame developers Riot Games Inc. and Valve Corp. in validity challenges to two computer-networking patents.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on June 17, 2020, held that a wellness store’s copyright claims against a former employee didn’t require an attorneys’ fees award, finding that several circumstances justified denying the award.