On 13 June 2013, Advocate General (“AG”) Niilo Jääskinen of the EU’s Court of Justice (CJEU) issued his non-binding Opinion in the Pinckney case, dealing with the question of courts’ competence to hear online copyright infringement cases in the EU. In his Opinion, the AG extended to copyright principles developed in relation to other IP… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Intellectual Property
Subscribe to Intellectual Property RSS FeedUK Supreme Court Rules on Case Involving Misuse of Trade Secrets by Former Employee
Posted in Intellectual PropertyBy Ezra Steinhardt and Oliver Grazebrook On 22 May 2013, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on the English law of confidential information. The case represents a helpful guide as to how confidential information may be protected by a business after the end of an employment contract. The case, Vestergaard Frandsen A/S (now called MVF… Continue Reading
Lessons from FDA’s First Public Mobile Medical Apps Enforcement Letter
Posted in Intellectual PropertyAs our colleagues discussed in a previous post on InsideMedicalDevices, FDA took its first publicly announced enforcement action against a mobile app developer on May 22, issuing an “It Has Come to Our Attention Letter” to India-based app developer, Biosense Technologies. The letter received extensive media coverage, and the mHealth sector was immediately abuzz with interest (and concern)… Continue Reading
The UK Parliamentary Process Delays the Implementation of the Unitary Patent
Posted in Intellectual Propertyby Morag Peberdy and Christina Helden When the legislative package the EU Unitary Patent was agreed last December, many speculated that the 1 January 2014 date for the implementation of the EU’s Unitary Patent was overly ambitious. The publication of the UK’s new Intellectual Property Bill (the “Bill”) on 10 May 2013 now gives real… Continue Reading
Craigslist wins first step against screenscapers – lesson for drafting TOUs
Posted in Intellectual Property, Social Media, TransactionsOn April 29, Craigslist was successful in fighting off a motion to dismiss filed by three screenscraping sites (3Taps, Padmapper and Lovely) in its pending litigation in the Northern District of California. In Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., No. CV 12-03816 (N.D. Cal.), Craigslist sued these sites, alleging that their scraping of Craigslist content violated… Continue Reading
ZTE Signs Android Licensing Deal With Microsoft
Posted in Intellectual Property, Telecommunications, TransactionsOn Tuesday, Microsoft announced a deal with ZTE under which ZTE will license Microsoft’s worldwide patent portfolio for use in cell phones, tablet computers, and other devices running the Android and Chrome operating systems. Although the terms of the ZTE deal were not released, Microsoft’s agreements with other device manufacturers have required a royalty payment… Continue Reading
Survey: Foreign Companies Fear Data, IP Theft in China
Posted in Cloud Computing, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data SecurityOn March 29, the American Chamber of Commerce in China (“AmCham China”) released its 15th annual Business Climate Survey. This year, AmCham China polled 325 of its members, most of which are U.S. companies operating in China. According to AmCham China’s Chairman, this year’s results reflect “expectations for growth” tempered with “a more conservative business… Continue Reading
What does the Commission’s Reuters Instrument Codes settlement mean for refusals to license essential inputs?
Posted in Intellectual Propertyby Miranda Cole and Christos Malamataris On 20 March, the European Commission published its decision settling the Reuters Instrument Codes (“RICs”) Case. The Commission’s investigation focused on whether the restrictions imposed by Thomson Reuters (previously Reuters) on the licensing of RICs amounted to the abuse of a dominant position (in breach of Article 102 TFEU)… Continue Reading
Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Aereo Preliminary Injunction
Posted in Intellectual PropertyToday, the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed by a 2-1 decision the district court’s decision declining to issue a preliminary injunction against Aereo’s broadcast television streaming service. The plaintiffs had requested a preliminary injunction on the basis that Aereo allegedly infringes their exclusive right to publicly perform their copyrighted works.
Supreme Court Clarifies Broad Geographic Reach of Copyright’s First-Sale Doctrine
Posted in Intellectual PropertyOn Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., resolving a long-simmering debate by holding that copyright’s first-sale doctrine applies to copyrighted works lawfully made anywhere in the world. The upshot is that someone who buys an authorized, foreign-made copy (Kirtsaeng involved a foreign version of a textbook)… Continue Reading
India Upholds its First Compulsory Licence
Posted in Intellectual Propertyby Morag Peberdy and Christina Helden On 19 March 2013 the India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) released its written judgment upholding the Controller of the Indian Patent Office’s decision to grant Natco Pharma Ltd a compulsory licence under Bayer A.G.’s patent for its anti-cancer drug Nexavar. Section 84(1)(a)–(c) of the Indian Patents Act 1970… Continue Reading
Cell Phone Unlocking Push Moves to Congress
Posted in Intellectual Property, TelecommunicationsHouse and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders joined the cell phone unlocking debate last week by introducing a pair of new bills. If enacted, the bills would overturn an October 2012 regulation issued by the Library of Congress, which effectively prohibits consumers from unlocking cell phones purchased after January 26, 2013 so that they may be… Continue Reading
English Court Upholds a Copyright Sub-licence Despite the Termination of the Head Licence
Posted in Intellectual PropertyBy Morag Peberdy and Jacqueline Clover In a departure from the normal approach, the English High Court has found that in certain circumstances a copyright sub-licence may survive termination of the head licence. This was the Court’s holding in VLM Holdings Limited v Ravensworth Digital Services Limited [2013] EWHC 228 (Ch). Because of the specific… Continue Reading
White House Calls for Legalization of Some Cell Phone Unlocking
Posted in Intellectual Property, TelecommunicationsThe Obama administration issued a statement on Monday declaring that consumers not bound by service agreements should be able to unlock their cellular devices for use with other network providers. In the official response to a petition on the We The People website, a senior White House advisor on the Internet, innovation and privacy agreed… Continue Reading
SHIELD Act Seeks to Shift Litigation Costs in Patent Suits Brought by Non-Practicing Entities
Posted in Intellectual PropertyA bill has been introduced in Congress that would permit prevailing defendants in patent infringement suits to recover litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. The Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (“SHIELD”) Act was introduced on February 27 by Congressmen Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). The bill would provide for the award of… Continue Reading
Second Circuit Upholds Ruling in Favor of Ralph Lauren in Trademark Dispute
Posted in Intellectual PropertyThe United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled recently that the United States Polo Association (USPA) cannot use its “Double Horsemen” logo on men’s fragrances, affirming the district court’s finding of trademark infringement and entry of a permanent injunction in favor of PRL USA Holdings, Inc. (PRL). PRL is the owner and… Continue Reading
Proposed Florida Law Would Require Warrants for Cellphone Searches
Posted in Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Security, Social MediaFlorida lawmakers have proposed that the government be required to obtain a warrant before searching the contents of “portable electronic devices” or tracking their locations. The bill, S.B. 846, was introduced by State Representative Jeff Brandes and would go into effect on July 1, 2013. The proposed Florida law would apply to “portable electronic devices,”… Continue Reading
Federal Courts Increasingly Receptive to IP Geolocation Data; Copyright, Other Lawsuits Affected
Posted in Intellectual Property, TelecommunicationsA series of recent decisions suggests that federal courts increasingly are accepting evidence derived from Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation databases, which make it possible to look up the geographic location of a computer or other similarly-equipped electronic device. This development may be particularly significant in the area of copyright litigation, where alleged online infringers can… Continue Reading
The English High Court Rules that a Copyright Infringer Is a Trespasser, Not a Thief
Posted in Intellectual PropertyBy Jacqueline Clover and Helena Marttila-Bridge On 5 February 2013, the English High Court handed down a judgment in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp & Ors v Harris & Ors [2013] EWHC 159 (Ch), according to which copyright owners have no proprietary rights to the money derived from infringement of their copyright. The case involved… Continue Reading
Top Ten Developments in U.S. Trademark Law During 2012
Posted in Intellectual PropertyIn addition to the copyright “top ten” announced yesterday, Covington’s Intellectual Property Rights Group also published its annual list of the ten most significant and interesting developments in U.S. trademark law from the previous year. The 2012 list features updates on the application of trademark law to online keyword advertising; the launch of the generic… Continue Reading
Top Ten Developments in U.S. and European Copyright Law During 2012
Posted in Intellectual PropertyCovington’s Intellectual Property Rights Group recently published its annual list of the ten most significant and interesting developments in U.S. and European copyright law from the previous year. Highlights from 2012 include key decisions regarding the scope of copyright protection for computer software; evolving standards for websites’ liability for hosting or linking to infringing content;… Continue Reading
World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board Considers New Resolution on R&D for Neglected Diseases, With Implications for IP
Posted in Intellectual PropertyBy Bonnie Drury and Ezra Steinhardt Controversy continues over WHO negotiations for a binding global medical research & development treaty — and the negotiations may now stall until May at the earliest. In late November 2012, members of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (the CEWG) agreed the text… Continue Reading
The Geography of Online Infringement: Study Names Sweden as Hotspot for Infringement
Posted in Domain Names, Intellectual PropertyA recent study reports that country code Top-Level Domains (“ccTLDs”) belonging to Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are the most commonly used for online copyright infringement. The study, published in January by Internet researcher Cedric Manara, focuses on data provided by Google regarding the requests it receives to remove search results that link… Continue Reading
WTO Authorizes Antigua and Barbuda to Suspend United States Intellectual Property Rights Over Internet Gambling Dispute
Posted in Intellectual PropertyThe World Trade Organization issued approval on Monday for Antigua and Barbuda to impose sanctions on the United States that would authorize the suspension of “certain concessions and obligations” that Antigua has “under international law to the United States in respect of intellectual property rights.” The authorization would apply to obligations imposed on Antigua by… Continue Reading