Posts Tagged: "amici"

Some fictional characters are heroes; others are villains. Some mimic reality and others personify fantasy. And some appear in comic books and video games, while others in television shows and movies. Fictional characters epitomize the essence of creativity. And while copyright law is designed to encourage creative works, the law on character copyrights is in chaos. Every circuit to address this area of copyright law applies a different test. And some tests—like the Ninth Circuit’s—favor behemoth entertainment corporations over individual artists and independent companies. An objective, clear test that honors foundational principles of copyright law is needed. Robins Kaplan LLP petitioned for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court today on behalf of the Moodsters Company [link]. Moodsters Co. asks the Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision that dismissed its 89-page amended complaint and found the Moodsters characters uncopyrightable as a matter of law. The Supreme Court has never before addressed character copyrights.

November 1 was the deadline for filing amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering whether to grant a petition for writ of certiorari to take up Athena Diagnostics v. Mayo Collaborative Services on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Almost every amicus filing to the Supreme Court in this case supported granting the petition or backed up the position of petitioner Athena, who is asking the Supreme Court to clarify its patent-eligibility doctrine under the Alice/Mayo framework on the subject of medical diagnostic patent claims. The appeal to the Supreme Court follows a hotly contested denial of an en banc rehearing of the Federal Circuit’s original panel decision in Athena, which produced eight opinions, including four dissents, with many judges agreeing that Athena’s invention should be patent eligible even while they disagreed over whether Supreme Court precedent allowed for patent protection of diagnostic methods.