Posts Tagged: "IP News"

This week in Other Barks & Bites: a bill amending copyright law to increase liability for online platforms republishing news snippets is introduced into Canada’s Senate; Senator Tillis asks President Biden to select a USPTO Director who will retain reforms wrought during Andrei Iancu’s tenure; the Senate IP Subcommittee leadership sends follow-up questions to Facebook regarding access to its Rights Manager; China’s IP administration issues guidelines for patent application filings which are designed to reduce poor quality filings; Pharrell Williams escapes liability for perjury for his testimony during the copyright case over “Blurred Lines”; the PTAB decides against a discretionary denial of an IPR filed against an independent inventor despite a November trial date in district court; the Technical University of Munich joins an EPO-EUIPO joint IP education program; and digital service providers pay more than $424 million to the Mechanical Licensing Collective to qualify for limited liability under the Music Modernization Act for past infringements.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: China’s IP agency releases a public draft of drug patent linkage measures for public comment; Acting USPTO Director Hirshfeld tells the Patent Public Advisory Committee that the agency expects a 3% decline in patent application filings during the pandemic; the EU’s highest court rejects a trademark appeal from one of the continent’s largest retailers; Singapore releases a discussion draft of copyright law amendments that will go into effect later this year; an Eastern Texas magistrate judge recommends that Gree’s city-building video game patent claims should survive summary judgment over a collateral estoppel argument by Supercell; the Copyright Office announces an interim rule on the treatment of confidential information by the Music Modernization Act’s mechanical licensing collective; Volkswagen and Microsoft announce a partnership to collaborate on cloud-based automated driving solutions; and the Federal Circuit nixes patent claims covering methods of maintaining a customer loyalty program which were previously allowed by the PTAB under Section 101. 

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit vacated a PTAB ruling that invalidated patent claims over prior art on different grounds than those asserted by the petitioner; the CJEU finds that a German state treaty prohibiting regional advertisements in national TV networks may violate EU law; the Fourth Circuit holds that laches and not a statute of limitations is the appropriate defense against unfair competition claims filed under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act; Kia Motors continues to explore potential business partnerships for a $3 billion investment into developing a car with Apple; Japan announces that it will amend its rules surrounding fair use to address copyright infringement posed by paid cosplayers; Home Depot faces a patent lawsuit over the sale of various LED products; and the FTC settles an enforcement action against Zoom over claims that the company mislead consumers about its data security practices.

This week in Washington IP news, both the House of Representatives and the Senate remain quiet during these early days of the 117th Congress, although the Senate Commerce Committee will continue to consider the nomination of Gina Raimondo to serve as President Biden’s Secretary of Commerce. In policy institutes, The Wilson Center explores the potential of low-cost open source tools in improving the future of science while the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation focuses on the European Commission’s plans for incorporating emerging AI technologies in the healthcare sector. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also hosts a few informational webinars on IP basics, trademark registration and protecting IP assets in China.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: The New York Times reports that Facebook may be contemplating pursuing legal actions against Apple’s anticompetitive app store behaviors; China announces increased utility model patent grants and PCT patent application filings during 2020 and announces an end to government subsidies for patent filings by 2025; UK’s IP enforcement court finds that Amazon.com listings are not directed to UK or EU consumers; Huawei’s announces fourth quarter earnings showing a steep decline in global smartphone shipments; the Fourth Circuit moots Nike’s appeal of a preliminary injunction after the athletic apparel maker ended a trademark infringing ad campaign; and the Federal Circuit reverses part of a Delaware district court’s summary judgment ruling over a question as to whether a patent license agreement barring infringement claims had been terminated.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: an industry group representing French news publishers and Google reached a first-of-its-kind agreement on a copyright licensing framework for republishing news snippets online; USPTO Director Andrei Iancu and Deputy Director Lisa Peter announce their intention to step away from the agency during the Biden Administration; President Biden designates Jessica Rosenworcel to serve as acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission; BlackBerry’s patent settlement with Facebook helps shares of that company increase by as much as $20 per share; the FCC’s annual broadband report shows that the digital divide is decreasing for rural Americans who had lacked access to 4G LTE mobile communications; the Supreme Court strikes down a petition for certiorari filed by Idenix seeking to overturn the Federal Circuit’s invalidation of genus claims for Section 112 enablement issue; and the Court of Justice of the European Union is asked whether German law on preliminary injunctions in infringement proceedings is unduly burdensome on patent owners.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit enters a noninfringement ruling for uCloudlink after reversing the district court on claim construction and moots ABS’ appeal of IPR proceedings for which it petitioned, over a dissent from Chief Judge Prost; the USPTO announces its first National Council for Expanding American Innovation meeting; the U.S. Copyright Office issues an interim rule on categories of information and other usage issues regarding the MMA’s public musical works database; a Chinese court rules that Amazon cannot use its AWS logo to advertise cloud services in China; amicus filings in U.S. v. Arthrex note due process issues and other concerns at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); Acacia Communications tries to nix its acquisition agreement with Cisco after Chinese antitrust regulators delay approval; and Ericsson challenges Samsung with a Section 337 complaint at the ITC over the sale of electronic devices with wireless connectivity.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the USPTO issues a final rule on trademark fee adjustments at the agency and also extends the public comment period for soliciting input on the agency’s exercise of discretion in institution trials at the PTAB; the UKIPO issues updates to post-Brexit rules narrowing acceptable Addresses for Service on agency filings; the Federal Circuit affirms a $90 million infringement verdict against GlaxoSmithKline’s sale of Ellipta inhalers, and rules that the Supreme Court’s decision in Thryv renders non-appealable the PTAB’s determination of a challenged patent’s eligibility for covered business method (CBM) review; GM announces a $7 billion increase to the company’s now-$27 billion plan to invest in electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle development; the ITC rescinds limited exclusion and cease and desist orders entered in a Section 337 proceeding brought by Rovi against Comcast; and the Second Circuit revives trademark infringement claims after finding bad faith in defendant’s employee emails regarding the development of a car air freshener designed to create consumer confusion.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit rules that “acts of infringement” under Section 1400(b) limits venue in Hatch-Waxman patent cases to jurisdictions where ANDA submission activities took place; A Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office Upholds the revocation of a patent for CRISPR gene editing technology; Skidmore files a petition for rehearing of a petition for writ of certiorari in the “Stairway to Heaven” copyright case; the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Copyright Office issue notices related to studies on IP infringement committed by sovereign state actors; the Copyright Office also issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) related to statements of accounts submissions and payment of accrued royalties under the MMA; a magistrate judge in Southern New York denies a request to determine the accuracy of the copyright registration for the Phillie Phanatic baseball mascot; Amazon announces a second regional infrastructure for AWS in India by mid-2022; and VirnetX wins a $502.8 million infringement verdict over Apple’s infringement of patent claims covering virtual private network technologies.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit reverses a lower court’s erroneous application of the first-to-file rule in denying a motion to transfer venue in a patent case, and also finds standing for parties bringing a statutory cause of action for trademark cancellation proceedings; the USPTO issues trademark examiner guidance following the Supreme Court’s ruling in USPTO v. Booking.com as well as a benchmark study showing a 100% increase in AI patent applications between 2002 and 2018; registration for short online literary works is now available through the Copyright Office’s electronic registration system; the Ninth Circuit denies the Federal Trade Commission’s petition for en banc rehearing in its antitrust case against Qualcomm; Moderna reports $1.1 billion in customer deposits for its yet-to-be-approved COVID-19 vaccine; the Department of Justice announces $60 million in criminal trade secret fines to United Microelectronics Company; and Eko seeks a temporary restraining order to freeze Quibi’s assets related to IP infringement claims totaling nearly $100 million.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: during a meeting to vote on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court and other judicial nominees, the Senate Judiciary Committee also approved a motion to authorize subpoenas against Twitter and Facebook relating to online content moderation; the Standing Committee of China’s national legislature approved revisions to the country’s patent law that would increase punitive damages for willful infringement; the Eleventh Circuit reverses grants of summary judgment in a trade dress case between Gorilla Glue and J-B Weld; MasterObjects tells the PTAB that Facebook is a real party in interest in Unified Patents IPR; the DOJ and 10 state AGs file antitrust charges against Google’s monopoly in Internet search; the ITC institutes an investigation into OLED devices sold by Apple and Samsung; the USPTO issues a request for comments regarding whether to engage in rulemaking to codify the discretionary denial framework for IPRs at the PTAB; Gilead’s Veklury remdesivir product becomes the first FDA-approved treatment for COVID-19; and Honeywell and Microsoft announce a new partnership to develop industrial workplace cloud platforms.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Copyright Office issues a notice of proposed rulemaking on 17 proposed classes of use to be included in the eighth triennial round of exemptions to Section 1201 of the DMCA; the Federal Circuit partially reverses a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision for erroneous claim construction and affirms a district court decision to abstain from a patent case due to a related state court proceeding; China’s national legislature considers long-term enforcement mechanisms for patent rights in a draft amendment to the country’s patent law; the District Court of the Hague finds AstraZeneca liable for extra costs incurred by health insurance providers over the wrongful enforcement of invalid patents; Canada’s Federal Court of Appeals says that Waldorf-Astoria mark for “hotel services” isn’t invalid for lack of a brick-and-mortar hotel in the country; and Boeing shares pop after positive signs from a key EU aviation regulatory director about the 737 MAX returning to European airspace by the end of 2020. 

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit remands a “frustrating” patent case proceeding on an “impermissible theory of liability;” the Supreme Court questions counsel on the industry effects of copyright protections for software interfaces during oral arguments in Oracle v. Google; CRISPR gene editing inventors Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier awarded Nobel Prize; IBM announces that it will separate its managed infrastructure services unit to focus on its hybrid cloud business; and Regeneron seeks emergency approval for its COVID-19 therapy but also faces patent infringement charges over its use of a reagent used in vaccine testing assays.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: China’s IP agency announces that registered trademarks have increased past 28 million and also releases draft patent linkage measures in conjunction with China’s pharmaceutical regulator; the EU’s highest court upholds football star Lionel Messi’s right to trademark his name and tells EU member states that third country performers outside the EEA cannot be excluded from rights payments for music recordings; the USPTO announces a pilot program allowing patent applicants to defer fees on certain provisional applications covering inventions related to COVID-19; rapper Nicki Minaj wins a copyright suit filed by singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman on a fair use defense; the Copyright Office issues interim rules and a notice of proposed rulemaking related to several areas of the agency’s rulemaking authority under the Music Modernization Act; and the USPTO establishes a Performance Review Board for reviewing performance appraisal and bonus programs for agency employees.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim tells the IEEE that an Obama-era letter from the Department of Justice on the standard setting organization’s patent policies has been misinterpreted to the detriment of innovation; a California entertainment lawyers group asks the Supreme Court to solve a circuit split on the copyrightability of fictional characters; the Patent Trial and Appeal Board denies an inter partes review petition from Apple under the NHK-Fintiv discretionary denial factors being challenged by Apple and Google in a district court case; the Trademark Modernization Act moves out of the House Judiciary Committee by a voice vote; a collection of trade associations representing creative industries across the EU criticize the European Commission’s implementation of last year’s Copyright Directive; and the Ninth Circuit affirms a district court ruling that the Broadway musical Jersey Boys didn’t copy any protectable elements from a biography of The Four Seasons.