Intellectual Property Law

2173 ABA Journal Intellectual Property Law articles.

Supreme Court gives Jack Daniel’s a chance to prove infringement in ‘Bad Spaniels’ trademark parody case

There is no “special First Amendment protection” for product parodies that use trademarks as their own trademarks, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case involving Jack Daniel’s and the maker of a parody dog toy.

Jun 8, 2023 1:42 PM CDT

Lawyer for federal appeals judge barred from new cases finds orders ‘incredible’ and ‘stunning’

A lawyer representing a 95-year-old federal appeals judge is criticizing a judicial council’s refusal to assign her new cases and an investigating committee’s new focus on her failure to cooperate.

Jun 8, 2023 8:58 AM CDT

BigLaw firm was ‘caring only about its bottom line’ when it wrongly fired pregnant associate, suit says

A former intellectual property associate at DLA Piper has filed a gender bias lawsuit alleging that DLA Piper fired her because she sought maternity leave.

Jun 7, 2023 10:10 AM CDT

SCOTUS will consider First Amendment right to trademark ‘Trump too small’ without Trump’s consent

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the First Amendment was violated when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to register a trademark for the slogan “Trump too small.”

Jun 6, 2023 8:46 AM CDT

Taco Bell seeks to cancel trademarks for ‘Taco Tuesday’ in ‘liberation’ campaign

Taco Bell filed two petitions to cancel trademark registrations for the phrase “Taco Tuesday” last week while touting its “liberation” campaign.

May 23, 2023 3:21 PM CDT

Kagan, Sotomayor write dueling opinions in SCOTUS fair-use ruling against Andy Warhol Foundation

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan complained in a dissent Thursday that a majority ruling by liberal colleague Justice Sonia Sotomayor had adopted a “posture of indifference” and left “in shambles” part of a fair-use test used in copyright cases.

May 18, 2023 11:32 AM CDT

Federal circuit judge, 95, flunked security training, displayed hacking paranoia, exam order alleges

Judge Pauline Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has until May 23 to decide whether she will submit to a medical examination for competency with two specialists, according to a May 16 order by a three-judge investigative committee that details the reasons for its concerns.

May 18, 2023 8:43 AM CDT

Sotomayor and Gorsuch didn’t recuse in cert denials involving their publisher

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch failed to recuse themselves when considering cert petitions involving the publisher of their books, Penguin Random House.

May 8, 2023 12:09 PM CDT

Federal judge warns law firm that ‘judge shopping ain’t a thing here’

Plaintiffs can’t go looking for “greener judicial pasture” by dropping 213 of 218 defendants from a lawsuit and then filing a new suit against the same 213 defendants, according to a federal judge in Chicago.

May 3, 2023 3:14 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: Expect momentous decisions from the Supreme Court as term ends

Unless there is an emergency matter to be heard, the U.S. Supreme Court completed oral arguments for the October 2022 term April 26. The court is expected to hand down decisions by the end of June in all of the argued cases, with a flurry of decisions in the most high-profile cases expected at the very end. What are likely to be the most important rulings from the October 2022 term?

Apr 27, 2023 8:51 AM CDT

Copyright case against Ed Sheeran based on ‘an extremely common chord progression,’ law prof says

Civil rights lawyer Benjamin L. Crump told jurors in Manhattan, New York City, in opening statements Tuesday that he has “a smoking gun” showing that singer Ed Sheeran copied the Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get It On” when he wrote “Thinking Out Loud.”

Apr 26, 2023 9:15 AM CDT

Competency concerns lead to investigation of 95-year-old appeals judge

A 95-year-old judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is being investigated by the court’s judicial council after concerns were raised about her competency. The judge has refused to accept service of orders issued in the case.

Apr 17, 2023 9:51 AM CDT

Retired patent attorney who helped nab ‘Golden State Killer’ recounts her remarkable journey

In September 1998, a landscape worker clearing brush near I-85 in Mebane, North Carolina, came upon the skeletal remains of an unidentified child under a towering Howard Johnson’s sign. Despite law enforcement efforts, the youth remained nameless for two decades. He was simply known as “the Boy Under the Billboard.”

Apr 4, 2023 9:43 AM CDT

The CHIPS Act could complicate things for lawyers with clients in China or Taiwan

One potential side effect of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 includes amped-up patent litigation as the shift to manufacturing microchips domestically makes them further subject to U.S. intellectual property law.

Apr 1, 2023 3:00 AM CDT

When artists gain fame after death, questions can arise over copyright ownership

Several legal fights have pitted family members of an artist who died without a will against parties accused of commercially exploiting the artist’s work. Collectors or entrepreneurs who have obtained an artist’s physical work may then be tempted to try to profit from its underlying intellectual property, but they are different things.

Apr 1, 2023 1:30 AM CDT

Read more ...