Insights

US Supreme Court Holds th…

US Supreme Court Holds that Copying Application Programming Interface (API) is Fair Use

The US Supreme Court has held that Google’s copying of an application programming interface (“API”) was fair use under copyright law. The case involved Java SE, a computer program in the Java programming language. Oracle owns the copyright for… Read More
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Categories: Copyright
Apple Claims Former Produ…

Apple Claims Former Product Designer Stole Trade Secrets

Apple Inc. has sued a former product designer for the company, claiming that he stole Apple trade secrets in order to help his new employer and that he also leaked secrets to a reporter. The designer, Simon Lancaster, worked at Apple for more than te… Read More
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Categories: Patents, Trade Secrets
Second Circuit Redefines…

Second Circuit Redefines the Concept of “Transformative” Fair Use under Copyright Law

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has held that a series of Andy Warhol prints were not a “transformative” fair use of a photographer’s picture of the musical artist Prince and thus infringed the photographer’s copyright. The c… Read More
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Categories: Copyright
Legal Implications of NFTs

Legal Implications of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT)

We recently covered NFTs here, but due to the heightened interest regarding this topic, here’s a deeper dive into Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that have taken the blockchain industry by storm. An NFT is a type of cryptocurrency asset wherein each ite… Read More
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bundt cake

Court Protects Cake Frosting as “Trade Dress”

A federal court in Denbra IP Holdings, LLC d/b/a Nothing Bundt Cakes v. Kerri Thornton d.b.a. All About Bundt Cakes granted a cake company’s motion for a preliminary injunction, finding that a rival cake company’s frosting patterns violated the f… Read More
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Categories: Trademarks
mixed portions

Federal Circuit Finds Recoupment of Investment Does Not Bar Equitable Intervening Rights

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgement of non-infringement in a case involving rival poultry chillers. The case of John Bean Technologies Corp. v. Morris & Associates, Inc. inv… Read More
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Categories: Patents
Photo of child in colorful costume

Are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) Intellectual Property?

What’s a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and is it a form of intellectual property (IP)? First, some background on NFTs. As the New York Times explains, An NFT is an asset verified using blockchain technology, in which a network of computers records trans… Read More
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PTAB Graphic

When Will the PTAB Deny a Petition for Inter Partes Review?

An Inter Partes Review (IPR) is an administrative proceeding before a panel of Administrative Patent Judges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) – part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The PTAB reviews wheth… Read More
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Categories: Patents
picture of apples

Protecting Common Words or Phrases as Trademarks

Many people seem to think that they can get “first dibs” on a common word or phrase by filing a trademark – and then sell the mark for a lot of money. But it’s a lot more complicated than that. First of all, it’s perfectly OK to use a commo… Read More
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Categories: Trademarks
The FinTech Patent Landscape

The FinTech Patent Landscape

In this recent blog, we talked about the boom in blockchain-related patents, especially in China. But blockchain – and its most famous application, cryptocurrency (including Bitcoin) – isn’t the only area of financial innovation these days. Acc… Read More
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Categories: Patents