By Porter Wright on In a highly awaited software copyright decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that Google LLC’s copying of Oracle’s Java application programming interface (API) is a fair use as a matter of law. Java is a programming language and computing platform originally developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc., which was acquired by Oracle America, Inc. in … Continue Reading
By Donna Ruscitti on NBA star Kawhi Leonard debuted his new signature shoe during the 2020 NBA All-Star game on Feb. 16 in Chicago. The shoe from New Balance noticeably does not include the so-called “KL2” or “Klaw” logo because of Leonard’s ongoing legal dispute with Nike, Inc. Rick Mescher explained Leonard’s lawsuit filed against Nike regarding that logo … Continue Reading
By Luke Fedlam and Porter Wright on On October 29, 2019, the NCAA Board of Governors unanimously decided to allow college student-athletes the opportunity to profit for the use of their name, image and likeness. The Board directed the NCAA’s three divisions to consider updates to their rules and regulations to effectuate such a decision. The NCAA announced the decision on the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In our recent post, Status of CBD products under Ohio law: Part one, we discussed the perplexing regulations in Ohio that made it effectively illegal to sell hemp and Cannabidiol (CBD) despite passage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, otherwise known as the 2018 Farm Bill. That landscape has now changed in Ohio with the passage … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On July 17, 2019, Nike, Inc. (Nike) filed its Answer and Counter Claims in response to the complaint previously filed by Kawhi Leonard, now of the Los Angeles Clippers. Read about the complaint in our previous post, Kawhi Leonard v. Nike Inc.: How copyrights can trump trademarks? In its Answer, Nike asks for a declaration that … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, May 3, 2019, in the midst of the NBA finals, Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors filed a lawsuit against Nike, Inc. (Nike) in the US District Court Southern District of California. The complaint asks the Court for a declaration that Kawhi is the sole author of the “KL2” logo, that his use … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In Part 2, we cover the key Intellectual Property issues that are emerging in this arena. Read part 1 here. United States Patent and Trademark Office update Following the enactment of the Farm Bill, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has officially issued guidelines when reviewing trademark applications for CBS and hemp-derived goods … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Two emerging issues related to commercial cannabis are taking center stage for industry stake holders in Ohio: Current legal status of hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) based products under state law How intellectual property rights will be protected We will walk through both the background and current status related to these issues in this two part … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On May 8, 2019, the Review Board of the U. S. Copyright Office issued a decision stating that Yeezy 350 Boost Version 1 and Yeezy 350 Boost Version 2 sneakers each include copyrightable subject matter. The Adidas Yeezy sneakers are a collaboration between Adidas AG and Kanye West which has been wildly popular and as … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers valuable IP-related business resources through an intellectual property (IP) attaché program. The program is structured to generally improve IP policies, laws and regulations abroad for the benefit of U.S. businesses and stakeholders, while providing country-specific IP-related materials and services to teach and inform. However, the program … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On July 1, 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) began a 3-year pilot program known as The PCT Collaborative Search and Examination Pilot (CS&E) Program, to streamline examination and search procedures for patent examiners in multiple countries. The program is a coordinated effort with patent offices from around the world, together known … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In December 2016, the United States Copyright Office introduced an online registration system and electronically generated directory to replace the office’s old paper-based system and directory for filing DMCA agent information. The office no longer accepts paper designations. To designate an agent, a service provider must register with and use the office’s online system. While … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Patent infringement lawsuits are rather unusual in the fashion industry in part because design patents are difficult, expensive, and slow to obtain. In an industry that is constantly evolving to keep up with consumer trends, the year+ length of time from application filing to design patent registration is a lifetime. The latest development gaining momentum … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, June 19, 2017, the Supreme Court released a decision in a high profile trademark case rejecting the Lanham Act’s rule against disparaging trademarks as being facially invalid and unconstitutional. The Lanham Act, since its enactment in 1946, has contained a provision stating that a trademark should not be refused registration on the principal … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Nearly 50 miles south of San Diego in Mexico lies an eleven room hotel which is currently making waves for its name, Hotel California, which is also the name of the Eagles classic single and album. The boutique hotel was originally named Hotel California at its 1950 opening but has since undergone several name changes. … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on About two decades ago, Amazon.com, Inc. revolutionized e-commerce transactions with the innovation of single click buying. Single click buying is a checkout process that enables customers to bypass the shopping cart to make an online purchase with a single click based on payment and shipping information previously provided by the customer. Amazon received U.S. Patent … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on It’s the month of March, and most of us are highly aware of the NCAA’s basketball tournament that dramatically decreases work productivity and determines the college basketball national champion. If you’re thinking about entering the hype and using any of the NCAA’s trademarks in your promotions and marketing this month, it’s important to consider your … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on To a music lover and intellectual property attorney, this story is a wonderful collision of law and musical lore. Paul McCartney’s efforts to regain ownership of the Lennon/McCartney (or is it now “McCartney/Lennon?”) music catalog from Sony combines two interesting tales–the story of how Sony came to own the catalog to begin with and the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The elimination of counterfeit goods from online marketplaces in China continues to improve due to support from the Chinese government, changing laws in China which can impose liability on online marketplaces for infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR) and continued pressure from manufactures from around the world. The Alibaba Group, owner of some of the … Continue Reading
By Marty Miller on Four years after fully embracing international copyright exhaustion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court has finally taken up the issue of patent exhaustion. In Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International Inc., the Court has been asked to answer two questions: Whether a sale that transfers title to the patented … Continue Reading
By Donna Ruscitti on We’ve previously posted about the Defending Trade Secrets Act allowing plaintiffs to pursue a trade secret claim in federal court. Our colleagues at Employer Law Report recently reported on how employers can take advantage of this Act. An important piece of the Act includes immunity from criminal and civil liability for employees who disclose their … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on While patent, trademark, and copyright cases have had a place in federal law and a home in federal court, trade secret law has been relegated to the jurisdiction of state courts. Until now. With the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA), which President Obama signed in to law on May 11, … Continue Reading
By Donna Ruscitti on Porter Wright continues its tradition of providing cutting-edge information about how technology affects your business with the 2016 Technology Seminar Series, beginning May 18. This year’s sessions are: May 18: Big Data, Data Analytics & the Law 2016: What Your Company Needs to Know About the Evolution of the Next Big Thing “Big data” is one of today’s … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Companies across industries – from tech to transportation – should be paying careful attention to Friday’s executive action signed by President Obama. Our colleagues at Antitrust Law Source, Jay Levine and Chris Yook, wrote an article discussing the order’s requirements and what we can expect as it is implemented. Check out the article: “Breaking: President Obama’s executive order … Continue Reading
